Well-being in later life: a life course perspective

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to illustrate the viability of the life course paradigm (LCP), which is increasingly used by social and behavioral scientists to study a wide variety of phenomena, as a framework for studying the transformational role of service consumption in improving consumer well-being in later life. Design/methodology/approach The LCP is used to develop a life course model for studying the effects of service consumption on older people’s well-being. Previous research related to the consumption of specific types of services (financial and healthcare) is integrated within the multi-theoretical LCP to suggest relevant model variables and derive a set of propositions for illustrating the effects of service consumption on older adults’ well-being. Findings The research presented in this study shows how efforts to study the effects of service consumption on older people’s well-being can be improved by using the LCP, helps understand the onset and changes in service consumption patterns and illustrates an innovative way to study the role of services in promoting older consumer welfare. Originality/value By applying the principles and theoretical perspectives of the LCP, this study contributes to recent transformative service research efforts to better understand the impact of service consumption on people’s lives and the transformational role of services and service providers in improving consumer and societal welfare.

Using the life course paradigm to study financial well-being in late life

“…Therefore, this study improves the SAP model, with implications for theory and practice (e.g. Prakitsuwan and Moschis, 2020;Rowe and Kahn, 2015;Stowe and Cooney, 2014). Furthermore, the LCP is an improvement over the SAP because it highlights not only the role of past experiences and their impact on elderly well-being but also the role of contextual factors, such as those examined in the present study.…”

“…For in-depth discussions of the general conceptual life course model, the reader is directed to several conceptual articles (e.g. Moschis, 2019a;Moschis et al, 2020;Prakitsuwan and Moschis, 2020). Models based on the general conceptual life course model have been used in quantitative and qualitative investigations of a wide variety of The life course paradigm consumption phenomena in different countries (e.g.…”

“…This multi-theoretical paradigm, hailed as "one of the most important achievements in social science in the second half of the 20th century" (Colby, 1998, p. x), has diffused rapidly across disciplines (Moschis, 2019a) and has been suggested as a viable research approach for studying consumer behavior in general (e.g. Moschis, 2019b) and older consumer well-being in particular (Pettigrew and Moschis, 2012;Prakitsuwan and Moschis, 2020).…”

“…Physical and financial well-being are the two most important domains of well-being in later life, and studies of these domains consistently reveal that people increasingly experience poor health and inadequate financial resources as they approach late life (e.g. Hershey and Jacob-Lawson, 2012;Prakitsuwan and Moschis, 2020;van Solinge and Henkens, 2008). However, compared with physical well-being, which has been the main focus of SAP research for several decades (Rowe and Kahn, 2015), the issue of inadequate financial resources in later life has received far less attention (Hershey et al, 2010;Lusardi and Mitchell, 2007;Mathur and Kasper, 2019).…”

Guest editorial: age is a construct, not a characteristic

“…The authors note that life course research would allow for studying different effects on a variety of service encounters, which could contribute to increased well-being as a dynamic life-long process. They conclude that "previous service research on older consumers has been mostly descriptive and has primarily used consumer characteristics to predict and explain service consumption" (Prakitsuwan and Moschis, 2020).…”