Call for Papers: Senior Consumers and CS/D&CB

Co-editors: N. Meiners (PHWT University) and G. Leeson (University of Oxford)

Senior consumers play an important role in the economy and in the economic success of companies. Therefore, special attention should be paid to their (dis)satisfaction and complaining behavior. At the beginning of the 21st century, there were approximately 0.6 billion people aged 60 and over worldwide, and the United Nations (UN) expects this figure to rise to over 2 billion by 2050. The proportion of people aged 60 and older will increase to 21.5% by 2050 - in 1950, the proportion was just 8.0%. This age group has above-average incomes and savings; spends significantly more on consumer goods than younger consumer groups; demands higher-quality products; spends more money on literature; travels more frequently; has a greater interest in financial investments and mainly buys new as well as high-end cars (Dobbs et al. 2016). Senior consumers will thus be one of the most important customer groups in the coming decades and a key driver of corporate success in many industries (Meiners et al. 2011; Meiners et al. 2010). Numerous companies have therefore already begun to restructure their customer relationship and complaint management systems in order to meet the requirements of this important consumer group (Khan 2019).

The (dis)satisfaction and complaining behavior of senior consumers, those men and women aged 60 years and over, has received little attention from researchers (Meiners et al. 2021; Meiners et al. 2017). Lee and Soberon-Ferrer (1999) showed that older people are less likely to report an unsatisfactory experience, but those who do choose the same actions as younger consumers. They found that older consumers are less likely to have an unsatisfactory buying experience. However, when they do not get what they expect, the expectation is not met and they are dissatisfied.  If they have an unsatisfactory experience, they are just as likely as younger consumers to take complaint actions. These include, for example, complaining to the vendor, to the consumer reporting agency, or recommending to friends not to buy from the company. In addition, Lee and Soberon-Ferrer found age differences in the effects of determinants on complaint behavior. Education, attitudes toward businesses, marital status, and race/ethnicity influence older consumers' behavior, while market knowledge and attitudes toward businesses influence young consumers' behavior (Lee and Soberon-Ferrer 1999). Nimako and Mensah (2012), among others, highlighted that older and married individuals complain significantly less than younger and single customers. They therefore recommend paying attention to sociodemographic characteristics (Nimako and Mensah 2012). Bernhardt (1981) showed that older people are more dissatisfied with services than with products. The most frequently cited problems are unavailable special offers, unsatisfactory quality of service, unsatisfactory repair, and unsatisfactory service (Bernhardt 1981). In summary, the findings indicate that older persons generally have higher satisfaction than younger persons, which is expressed in relatively fewer complaints (Hunt 1991).

The purpose of this special issue of the Journal of Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction and Complaining Behavior is to shed light on this relatively unexplored field and to learn more about the (dis)satisfaction and complaining behavior of older consumers.

Special issue papers may focus on topics including, but not limited to, the following:

• Validity of existing CS/D&CB-based insights in senior marketing contexts.
• Maximizing the senior consumer complaint experience.
• The influence of age on decisions leading to satisfying experiences.
• The impact of senior consumers on theory development in CS/D&CB.
• International Aspects of CS/D&CB among senior consumers.
• Senior consumer switching behavior.
• The influence of age on brand love and brand hate.
• Complaint actions of senior consumers.
• Methodologies for investigating age-relatedness in relation to CS/D&CB.
• Age differences in the effects of determinants on complaint behavior.
• The importance of word of mouth (WOM) in senior consumer (dis)satisfaction.
• Complaint channels of senior consumers.
• Key figures for senior consumer (dis)satisfaction.
• Senior consumer satisfaction and senior consumer loyalty.

Papers targeting the special issue can be either quantitative or qualitative studies that specifically address the above issues and bring significant new knowledge to academia and practices, and come from consumer behavior domains in marketing as well as from other disciplines (e.g., Operations management, Finance, Management, International Business, etc.) which can offer solutions to enhance CS/D&CB.

Norbert Meiners, Professor of Business Administration at PHWT University, Vechta (GER) and George Leeson, Professorial Fellow at the Institute of Population Ageing, University of Oxford, Oxford (UK) will be the co-editors for this special issue, which will be published in the spring of 2024. Norbert´s main research interests are in the economics of population aging, with particular focus on demand and consumption of elderly people. George’s main research interests are in the socio-demographic aspects of aging populations, covering both demographic modeling of population development and the analysis of national and international data sets.

The Journal of Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction, and Complaining Behavior (JCS/D&CB) was first published in 1988 under the editorship of H. Keith Hunt and Ralph L. Day. Now in its 35^th year of publication, the journal has published many highly cited articles (Larsen and Wright, 2017) and is ranked as a B journal on the Australian Business Deans’ Council list.

Please submit papers by the deadline, December 1, 2023. Go to jcsdcb.com, click the MAKE A SUBMISSION button, and under SECTION, select Special Issue: Senior Consumers and CS/D&CB.

Bernhardt, K. L. (1981). Consumer problems and complaint actions of older Americans : a national view. Journal of Retailing 57, 107–118.

Dobbs, R., Manyika, J., Woetzel, J., Remes, J., Perrey, J., Kelly, G., Pattabiraman, K., & Sharma, H. (2016). Urban world: The global consumers to watch. McKinsey & Company vom 2016. Online verfügbar unter https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/urbanization/urban-world-the-global-consumers-to-watch.

Hunt, H. K. (1991). Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction, and Complaining Behavior. Journal of Social Issues 47 (1), 107–117.

Khan, H. T. A. (2019). Population ageing in a globalized world: Risks and dilemmas? Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice 25 (5), 754–760.

Larsen, V., & Wright, N.D. (2017). Impact on and of the Journal of Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction and Complaining Behavior: A 30-year retrospective. Journal of Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction and Complaining Behavior, Vol. 30, 5-18.

Lee, J. & Soberon-Ferrer, H. (1999). An Empirical Analysis of Elderly Consumers' Complaining Behavior. Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal 27 (3), 341–371.

Meiners, N., Reucher, E., Khan, H.T., & Spille, L. (2021). Consumer (Non) Complaint Behavior - An Emperical Analysis of Senior Consumers in Germany. Journal of Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction and Complaining Behavior 34, 16–32.

Meiners, N., Rester, D., Reidl, A., & Seeberger, B. (2011). The Significance of the Retirement Market. Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business (IJCRB) 3 (3), 29–49.

Meiners, N., Reucher, E., & Leeson, G. W. (2017). Age discriminating advertising in Germany: is this an issue? Basic statistical analysis of complaints to the »deutsche werberat«. Optimum. Studia Ekonomiczne 86 (2), 11–27.

Meiners, N., Them, C., & Seeberger, B. (2010). Marketing to Senior Citizens - Challenges and Opportunities. The Journal of Social, Political and Economic Studies 35 (3), 293–328.

Nimako, S., & Mensah, F. A. (2012). Motivation for Customer Complaining and Non-Complaining Behaviour Towards Mobile Telecommunication Services. Asian Journal of Business Management 4 (3), 310–320.