Revisiting the Age Construct: Implications for Service Research
比较了实际年龄、认知年龄和未来时间视角三种年龄构念在服务研究中的优劣，发现未来时间视角能一致地检测消费者感知和行为的年龄差异，对服务营销实践有指导意义。
People in the older consumer segment spend more money on services than those in other segments, making them a desired target for service providers. This universal trend has led researchers to start discussing this trend’s implications for service research and marketing practice. These discussions’ results are ambiguous because service researchers and managers face the problem of having to choose between three main age constructs: chronological age, cognitive age, and future time perspective (FTP). Unfortunately, current age-related research lacks an understanding of their real value, as only a few studies have combined them to discuss their specific impact. Recognizing this gap in the literature, this article compares the three age constructs in behavioral and perceptional settings. We highlight each age construct’s merits and weaknesses as well as exploring which construct delivers the best results in which service context. Bayesian analyses of our data reveal that chronological age has its merits as a control variable but does not sufficiently discriminate between age groups’ behavior and perceptions. Cognitive age is useful if customers’ own age perceptions are included but only identifies age differences in specific service settings. FTP consistently detects age-related differences in customers’ perceptions and in their behavior in all contexts.