This paper investigates the impact of health attitudes (as measured by consumers' perceived control over their health outcomes) on information search and alternative evaluation of rural Australian consumers when selecting a hospital. A self-administered moil questionnaire was sent to 1790 households within three rural communities, with 309 (17.3 per cent) useable questionnaires being returned for analysis. Results showed that while consumers' perceived control over their health outcome influences information search and evaluative behaviours, this factor may not be strong enough to warrant segmenting markets for marketing strategy development
