IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/snbeco/v2y2022i1d10.1007_s43546-021-00180-4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Active ageing of elderly consumers: insights and opportunities for future business strategies

Author

Listed:
  • Gianluigi Guido

    (University of Salento)

  • Marta Maria Ugolini

    (University of Verona)

  • Andrea Sestino

    (University of Bari Aldo Moro)

Abstract

Recent studies have focused on the emerging scenario of ‘active ageing’ as a series of positive actions aimed at fostering elderly adaptability by supporting emotionally close relationships and removing age-related structural barriers. Active ageing may be stimulated not only by leveraging technological and scientific innovations but also by implementing new business strategies that reflect a better comprehension of elderly new roles and behaviours. To aid in that effort, through a literature review of marketing and management contributions across a five-decade period (1970–2020), this paper investigates elderly consumers’ new roles and related implications for business strategies, from a consumer behaviour perspective. Results present a structured classification of the most prominent streams of research by highlighting five promising changes (5Cs): changes in elderly consumers’ roles in markets and societies; changes in self-care resulting in fashion purchases and cosmetic surgery; changes in elderly consumers’ expenditures on specifically designed products and services; changes in the perception of risks resulting in preferences for either extremely prudent or hazardous behaviours; and changes in general elderly characteristics due to the so-called ‘ageless society’. We highlight the heterogeneity of elderly consumers’ new values and lifestyles, and the importance of incorporating their needs into innovative business strategies, by describing for each section the main findings of extant research and practical implications.

Suggested Citation

  • Gianluigi Guido & Marta Maria Ugolini & Andrea Sestino, 2022. "Active ageing of elderly consumers: insights and opportunities for future business strategies," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 2(1), pages 1-24, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:snbeco:v:2:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1007_s43546-021-00180-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s43546-021-00180-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s43546-021-00180-4
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s43546-021-00180-4?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. George P. Moschis, 2019. "Consumer Behavior over the Life Course," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-3-030-05008-5, April.
    2. Denis Guiot, 2001. "Antecedents Of Subjective Age Biases Among Senior Women," Post-Print halshs-00169445, HAL.
    3. Wilkes, Robert E, 1992. "A Structural Modeling Approach to the Measurement and Meaning of Cognitive Age," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 19(2), pages 292-301, September.
    4. repec:dau:papers:123456789/2313 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. repec:dau:papers:123456789/3533 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Louis Mark Palazesi & Beverly L. Bower & Robert A. Schwartz, 2008. "Underlying Consumer-Valuing Structures of Baby Boomers as Older Adults in Community Colleges: A Grounded Theory," Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(2), pages 256-291, April.
    7. Schouten, John W, 1991. "Selves in Transition: Symbolic Consumption in Personal Rites of Passage and Identity Reconstruction," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 17(4), pages 412-425, March.
    8. Denis Guiot & Benny Barak & Keun Lee & Yong Zhang & Stephen Gould, 2006. "L’âge subjectif par-delà les frontières : Une étude cross-culturelle dans le secteur de la mode vestimentaire," Post-Print halshs-02914895, HAL.
    9. Hope Jensen Schau & Mary C. Gilly & Mary Wolfinbarger, 2009. "Consumer Identity Renaissance: The Resurgence of Identity-Inspired Consumption in Retirement," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 36(2), pages 255-276.
    10. Denis Guiot & Benny Barak & Stephen Gould & Keun Lee & Yong Zhang, 2006. "L'Age Subjectif Par Dela Les Frontieres : Une Etude Cross Culturelle Dans Le Secteur De La Mode Vestimentaire," Post-Print halshs-00169081, HAL.
    11. Thompson, Craig J & Hirschman, Elizabeth C, 1995. "Understanding the Socialized Body: A Poststructuralist Analysis of Consumers' Self-Conceptions, Body Images, and Self-Care Practices," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 22(2), pages 139-153, September.
    12. Sanjay K. Dhar & Stephen J. Hoch, 1997. "Why Store Brand Penetration Varies by Retailer," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 16(3), pages 208-227.
    13. Thakor, Mrugank V. & Suri, Rajneesh & Saleh, Katayoun, 2008. "Effects of service setting and other consumers’ age on the service perceptions of young consumers," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 84(2), pages 137-149.
    14. Schiffman, Leon G. & Sherman, Elaine, 1991. "Value orientations of new-age elderly: The coming of an ageless market," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 187-194, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Henrique Faverzani Drago & Gilnei Luiz Moura & Luciana Santos Costa Vieira Silva & Claudimar Pereira Veiga & Fabíola Kaczam & Luciana Peixoto Santa Rita & Wesley Vieira Silva, 2023. "Reviewing the relationship between organizational performance, dynamic capabilities and strategic behavior," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 3(1), pages 1-22, January.
    2. Sestino, Andrea & D'Angelo, Alfredo, 2024. "Elderly patients' reactions to gamification-based digital therapeutics (DTx): The relevance of socialization tendency seeking," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    3. Apetrei Andreea & Constantin Marius & Deaconu Elena-Mădălina & Dinu Mihai & Pătărlăgeanu Simona Roxana & Petrescu Irina-Elena, 2024. "Eco-chic or trendy-chic? Decoding consumer preferences in sustainable and fast fashion across the EU," Management & Marketing, Sciendo, vol. 19(2), pages 179-210.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Robert Zniva & Wolfgang Weitzl, 2016. "It’s not how old you are but how you are old: A review on aging and consumer behavior," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 66(4), pages 267-297, December.
    2. Compeau, Larry D. & Monroe, Kent B. & Grewal, Dhruv & Reynolds, Kristy, 2016. "Expressing and defining self and relationships through everyday shopping experiences," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(3), pages 1035-1042.
    3. Martin Eisend & Jana Möller, 2007. "The influence of TV viewing on consumers' body images and related consumption behavior," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 101-116, June.
    4. Denis Guiot, 2001. "Tendance d'âge subjectif : quelle validité prédictive ?," Post-Print halshs-00167929, HAL.
    5. Chaouali, Walid & Souiden, Nizar, 2019. "The role of cognitive age in explaining mobile banking resistance among elderly people," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 342-350.
    6. Castilhos, Rodrigo B. & Fonseca, Marcelo J., 2016. "Pursuing upward transformation: The construction of a progressing self among dominated consumers," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 6-17.
    7. Adnane MAALAOUI & Imen SAFRAOU & Judith PARTOUCHE & Celine Viala, 2019. "How Subjective Age Affects Entrepreneurship: The Effects of Rejuvenating Trend on Entrepreneurial Intention among Seniors," Working Papers 2019-002, Department of Research, Ipag Business School.
    8. Yossi Gavish, 2013. "Family Consumption Decisions: Literature Review and Extension —The Psycho-Social Case of Single-Mother Families and Their Early Adolescent Daughters," International Journal of Psychological Studies, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 5(4), pages 1-26, December.
    9. Paolo Franco, 2023. "Older consumers and technology: A critical systematic literature review," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 13(1), pages 92-121, June.
    10. Samuel Guillemot & Annick Tamaro & Margot Dyen, 2022. "Vital Service Captivity: Coping Strategies and Identity Negotiation," Post-Print hal-03567883, HAL.
    11. Llamas, Rosa & Thomsen, Thyra Uth, 2016. "The luxury of igniting change by giving: Transforming yourself while transforming others' lives," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 166-176.
    12. Sirieix, Lucie & Séré de Lanauze, Gilles & Dyen, Margot & Balbo, Laurie & Suarez, Erick, 2023. "The role of communities in vegetarian and vegan identity construction," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    13. Kniazeva, Maria & Babicheva, Eva, 2017. "(Un)saving face, or the designer face as a new consumer commodity," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 143-148.
    14. Gentina, Elodie & Hogg, Margaret K. & Sakashita, Mototaka, 2017. "Identity (Re)construction through sharing: A study of mother and teenage daughter dyads in France and Japan," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 67-77.
    15. Melissa Archpru Akaka & Hope Jensen Schau, 2019. "Value creation in consumption journeys: recursive reflexivity and practice continuity," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 47(3), pages 499-515, May.
    16. Denis Guiot, 2000. "Subjective Age Biases Among Adolescent Girls," Post-Print halshs-00169543, HAL.
    17. Adnane Maalaoui & Judith Partouche & Imen Safraou & Celine Viala, 2023. "Senior entrepreneurship: how subjective age affects seniors’ entrepreneurial intentions," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 443-465, February.
    18. Paula Thieme & Dennis A. V. Dittrich, 2015. "A Life-Span Perspective on Life Satisfaction," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 775, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    19. Soojung Kim & Yahua Bi & Insin Kim, 2021. "Travel Website Atmospheres Inducing Older Travelers’ Familiarity: The Moderating Role of Cognitive Age," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-17, April.
    20. Liu, Chihling & Keeling, Debbie Isobel & Hogg, Margaret K., 2016. "Strategy narratives and wellbeing challenges: The role of everyday self-presentation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 234-243.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:snbeco:v:2:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1007_s43546-021-00180-4. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.