The healthy aging and service firms: the promise of smart technologies

Abstract

Purpose The world is getting older but healthier, making the over-65s healthy aging the only age-based growth segment in developed countries. This article offers a new perspective on healthy aging consumers and examines how service firms can use smart technologies, such as intelligent automation (IA), artificial intelligence (AI), and service robots, to improve their customer experience (CX). Design/methodology/approach This conceptual article draws insights from the literature on healthy aging in consumer behavior, psychology, and medicine, amongst others, and the literature in service management and marketing on technology. Findings This article first demonstrates the attractiveness of the healthy over-65s segment to service firms. Second, it addresses the previously overlooked healthy aging segment in consumer research, connecting it to the evolving physical, cognitive, and socio-emotional responses of older adults in service settings. Third, it advances how service firms can use smart technologies to improve the healthy aging’s CX in the contexts of hedonic and utilitarian services delivered in physical and digital service environments. Practical implications This paper focuses service firms on their fastest-growing segment, that is, healthy older consumers. It provides recommendations on how service firms can use smart technologies to serve this segment better. Originality/value This article opens a new stream of service research on healthy aging and technology.