Factors affecting the choice of public, private or charity health care providers: A case of a developing country

Introduction: Given the importance of individuals' behavioral intention to choose the health care providers, this study aimed to determine factors affecting the intention of the patients to choose public, private or charity health care providers. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted on a sample of 330 employees, as the potential patients, selected randomly. A reliable Persian version of Ferreira's questionnaire was used (alpha = 0.806) for collecting data. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS18 through Independent t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient, and multiple linear regression. Results: The regression results indicated that factors influencing the patients' intention to use the public (R-2 = 0.711), private (R-2 = 0.311), or charity (R-2 = 0.162) sectors were the patients' attitudes, behavioral control, working in the Schools and Research Centers, as well as in the University headquarters, treaty employment, previous experience, gender (female), work experience of 16-25 years, having diploma and under diploma degrees, and the organizational position of Services, Technology, Engineering and others (P < 0.05). Conclusion: According to the findings, making careful plan to strengthen the employees' attitude and perceived behavioral control in the public sector, the use of confidence-building measures and strategies for cost control in the private sector and social marketing approach in the charity sector are recommended.