Abstract
This article contributes to the establishment of a new perspective in the debate on how to respond to the economic and social challenges of ageing society. It re-examines the productive activity of older people through the lens of the self-service economy and initiates a discussion on how the self-service economy can be leveraged to help deal with some of the challenges created by an ageing population. The article’s main argument is built on the growing importance of self-service and the potential for older consumers to engage in such production/consumption. The substantial efficiency gains surrounding increased levels of self-service are illustrated. The potential of the retired population engaging in self-service and thus dampen the life cycle deficit is highlighted. Self-service activity by older consumers is presented as a type of productive activity and as forming part of older people’s contribution to society. It is argued that the growing self-service nature of consumption brings the meaning of ‘retirement’ even further into question. The policy implications of self-service are explored and a wide range of suggestions for further research areas related to self-service and the older consumer are put forward.
Highlights
The ageing of society refers to the tendency for populations to have increasing proportions of old people
These research topics include: further conceptual work considering how self-service work is perceived by individuals and society; the older consumer perspective of self-service, including the factors influencing older consumers self-service technologies’ (SSTs) adoption; the role of family and friends in supporting older consumer self-service adoption; prediction of how older consumers attitudes to self-service will evolve over the coming decades; the development of an active ageing perspective on the self-service involvement of older consumers; and the organisational perspective on older consumers and self-service
This article has introduced to the ageing literature a conversation on how the self-service economy can be leveraged to help deal with some of the challenges created by an ageing population
Summary
The ageing of society refers to the tendency for populations to have increasing proportions of old people. This paper seeks to nurture a fresh perspective on this theme, based on exploring the consequences of the increasing dominance of service consumption and the long-term trend towards customers themselves doing some of the work in producing services. Service firms are increasingly becoming facilitators of the active production role of service consumers Classic examples of these include McDonald’s, IKEA, and Ryanair. The use of self-service potentially has a similar logic to the substitution of home production for market purchased goods and services in retirement (Hurd and Rohwedder 2003). The paper starts by introducing frameworks for exploring the economic challenges of an ageing society It briefly outlines the rise of the self-service economy. The paper puts forward issues for further research which its perspective beckons
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