Consumer involvement as a segmentation approach for studying utilization of health organization services

Abstract

This paper reviews the demographic segmentation approach to health service utilization and notes its inherent limitations. We offer an alternative approach, segmentation by involvement, and compare the two approaches with data drawn from 887 survey respondents’ reports of utilization of a central Illinois health organization's services and dissemination of information about those services. Results revealed that both involvement and age significantly influenced utilization behaviors and that sex and education level significantly affected information dissemination practices. The amount of variance accounted for by all significant predictors was low, however. Additional analyses indicated that high involvement individuals and older individuals were most likely to utilize organizational services and that females and highly educated individuals were most likely to communicate information to others about the organization's services. Finally, we compare the utility of both segmentation approaches and discuss implications for health service administrators and communication specialists.