Young customers don't want old people around when they're eating out at restaurants and will avoid patronizing health clubs and other service industries related to physical activity if senior citizens are present, a new study suggests.
A marketing professor at Concordia University in Montreal wanted to know how young adults perceive and stereotype older people when they consume services.
In select sectors of the service industry, like restaurant dining, researchers found that the presence of old customers resulted in lower evaluations of service quality from university-age customers.
When it came to physical settings, namely a health club, "the presence of old or middle aged adults not only drove young adults to regard their service more negatively but also depressed their patronage intentions."
The findings of Concordia professor Mrugank Thakor, who worked with Concordia graduate student Katayoun Saleh and marketing professor Rajneesh Suri of Philadelphia's Drexel University, are published in the forthcoming edition of the Journal of Retailing.
In an interview, Thakor said the fitness-centre finding suggests "if you see a bunch of old people there, a young person might infer that it's not going to be all that exciting or rigorous. If it's going to appeal to the oldies, it's not going to be extreme."
The researchers found age stereotyping doesn't extend to all service areas. The study tested how young people viewed old people in a cognitive setting by soliciting their opinions about attending a web page development seminar alongside older people. It had no negative effect.
The study tested the opinions of 166 undergraduate students, with an average age of 22. They were randomly assigned to three service settings (web seminar, health club, and an animated Benihana-type restaurant where chefs prepare Japanese meals in front of customers) with three age groups of customers, young adults, middle-aged and senior citizens.
Each was provided a booklet with a cover story asking them to imagine that they were evaluating whether to participate in the service described in the booklet. They were asked about attitudes about the other consumers, patronage intentions and perceptions of service quality.
The findings shouldn't encourage managers in the service sector to engage in age discrimination, the authors caution.
"Managers need to be mindful of ethical boundaries and avoid discriminatory or unacceptable strategies," such as banishing some customers to obscure corners of a restaurant or providing them with substandard service at the gym.
Constructive options include offering early-bird specials to encourage customers with more flexible schedules, including retirees, to use the facilities at times when they are less busy "to self-select themselves" into different time slots.
"We believe that our findings can serve more positive uses by alerting managers to the prevalence of age-stereotyping, which may lead (to) some young consumers avoiding their service," the study states.
Colin Milner, head of the Vancouver-based International Council on Active Aging, said the results showcase a prevailing cultural attitude. "We live in a society that really doesn't respect old age."
But Milner also said many older folks don't want to work out with young people, either. "They say, 'I'm not going out there having to compete with some young buck lifting 300 pounds and I'm lifting 30'."
Toronto businesswoman Cleo Chmielinski figured out the winning formula last year when she opened up Avalon Woods, a health club for "mature adults."
The average age is 59, and 15 per cent of clients are over 65 years old. "You won't find yourself working out among young people in Spandex. I never thought it was age discrimination, but lack of comfort when you're surrounded by people who aren't like you," she said.
Thakor said he'd like to study the opinions of these older consumers as part of his research projects about age.
-- Canwest News Service
PREVIOUS
