Social connectedness and well-being of elderly customers: Do employee-to-customer interactions matter?

Figures & data

Table 1. Summary of previous tourism and hospitality research focusing on elderly consumers.

Source	Method	Settings and sample	Key findings
Chaulagain et al. (2022)	Quantitative enquiry: SEM	A sample of 332 older adults living in continuing care retirement community in the USA.	Attributes including medical services, availability of activities, staff, food and beverage services, and spiritual environment have positive impacts on resident satisfaction and the latter spills over to their life satisfaction.
Sie et al. (2021)	Quantitative enquiry: PLS-SEM	A sample of 361 Australian tourists aged 50 and over who had participated in educational package tours.	Motivations, tour preferences, and memorable experiences influence subjective well-being of senior tourists.
Chaulagain et al. (2021)	Mixed method (focus groups and a quantitative survey)	Six focus groups with older adults who were either aging in their own homes or have already relocated to a senior living community. Survey of 363 seniors who were aging in their own homes.	Push and pull factors (e.g., health, social life and family/friend, housing, facility) positively influenced seniors’ relocation intention whereas barriers (e.g., family, economic situation, socio-psychological factors, and knowledge and information) negatively influenced their relocation intention.
Altinay et al. (2019)	Quantitative enquiry: SEM	A survey of 268 elderly consumers in local coffee shops in the United Kingdom.	Elderly customers’ interactions with other customers have a direct effect on customer satisfaction and social well-being.
Feng et al. (2019)	Mixed method (SEM and fsQCA)	A sample of 190 older adults residing in commercial care homes.	Positive social interactions with employees and outsiders can foster older residents’ social well-being.
Hwang and Lee (2019)	Quantitative enquiry: SEM	A survey of 323 senior tourists older in Korea.	Tourist experience positively influences well-being perceptions of elderly tourists, which, in turn, positively affects their attitudes toward a brand and their brand attachment.
Song et al. (2018)	Quantitative enquiry: SEM	A survey of 411 elderly customers who visited a Cha Chaan Teng tea restaurant in Hong Kong.	Older customers’ social interactions with employees and peer customers enhanced their customers’ experiences and alleviated their loneliness.
Lee and Severt (2017)	Quantitative enquiry: SEM	Survey of 157 residents in a continuing care retirement community.	Components of hospitality service quality (i.e. physical, instrumental, and emotional support) strongly influence older adults’ perceived meaning of place, which, in turn, influences their loyalty outcomes.
Kim et al. (2015)	Quantitative enquiry: CB-SEM	A survey of 208 senior tourists in Jeju Island, South Korea.	Senior tourists’ satisfaction with trip experience affects their leisure life satisfaction, which, in turn, influences their quality of life.
Kazeminia et al. (2015)	Content analysis of online narratives	TripAdvisor comments (194 questions and 517 answers) posted by senior tourists.	The main constraints that influence or hinder seniors from undertaking travel activities were identified. Aging seems to bring about alterations in the order of salient constraints affecting older adults’ preferences for ‘safe’ options such as package tours.
Chen et al. (2013)	Mixed method (Interviews and a quantitative survey)	Interviews with 13 senior managers and experts of hot spring hotels in Taiwan and a survey of 578 older adults staying in these hotels.	Seven customer service factors were identified including “mental learning,” “relaxation,” “healthy diet,” and “social activities.” Based on these factors, elderly guests were segmented into three groups; a holistic group, a physiocare group, and a leisure and recreation group.

Figure 1. Conceptual model and hypothesized relationships.

Table 2. Validity and Reliability.

Measurement items	Loadings	α	CR	AVE
Social Connectedness		0.969	0.818	0.968
SC1: I feel connected with the world around me	0.868
SC2: I feel that I really belong to the people I know	0.920
SC3: I don’t feel too distant from people	0.942
SC4: I have a certain sense of togetherness with my peers	0.918
SC5: I feel related to people	0.919
SC6: I don’t catch myself losing all sense of connectedness with society	0.896
SC7: There is a certain sense of brother/sisterhood among my friends	0.882
SC8: I feel that I participate with people or some group	0.890
Employee-to-customer interaction		0.942	0.950	0.634
SI1: The employees offered help	0.739
SI2: The employees understood my needs	0.770
SI3: The employees were knowledgeable	0.663
SI4: The employees anticipated my needs	0.726
SI5: The employees showed patience	0.796
SI6: The employees were helpful	0.867
SI7: The employees smiled at me	0.848
SI8: The employees were polite	0.852
SI9: The employees were relaxing to interact with	0.791
SI10: The employees showed passion for their job	0.825
SI11: The employees were cheerful	0.855
Social Well-Being		0.933	0.952	0.833
SWB1: In most ways, my social life is close to my ideal	0.884
SWB2: The conditions of my social life are excellent	0.933
SWB3: I am satisfied with my social life	0.937
SWB4: So far, I have got the important things I want in my social life	0.897

Table 3. Discriminant Validity.

F&L Criterion
Constructs	1	2	3
Employee-to-Customer Interaction	0.796
Social Well-Being	0.437	0.913
Social Connectedness	0.262	0.464	0.905
HTMT Criterion85
Constructs	1	2	3
Employee-to-Customer Interaction
Social Well-Being	0.452
Social Connectedness	0.260	0.487

Table 4. Hypotheses Testing.

Hypothesis	Beta	T-Value	P Values	Decision
Employee-to-Customer Interaction → Social Well-Being	0.339	5.214	0.000	Supported
Employee-to-Customer Interaction → Social Connectedness	0.262	4.831	0.000	Supported
Social Connectedness → Social Well-Being	0.376	5.970	0.000	Supported

Table 5. Profile of participants in focus groups.

Participant	Gender	Age	Job Title
P1	M	30	Manager of events and activities
P2	M	35	Music, singing and painting instructor
P3	F	80	Resident
P4	F	79	Resident
P5	M	45	Officer from the Aging Committee
P6	M	47	Officer from the Aging Committee
P7	F	46	Director of residents’ lifestyle centre
P8	F	45	Director of events and activities
P9	M	82	Resident
P10	M	78	Resident
P11	F	39	Aging development foundation officer
P12	M	42	Aging development foundation officer
P13	F	36	Events and activities officer
P14	F	32	Events and activities officer
P15	F	85	Resident
P16	F	81	Resident
P17	F	36	Local community officer
P18	F	39	Local community officer

Table 6. Indicative example of the data analysis process.

Excerpt	Initial coding	Themes	Concept
‘The employees take us to do morning exercise, Tai Chi. They let us sit there and do the exercise, because we cannot bend or squat down. They also let us do some simple mathematics so that we can exercise our brain.’P15	Resources combined by employees from older customers	Resource integrated by employees	Value co-creation
‘There is an instructor for the calligraphy group … they (the service provider) provide the materials … all the materials for painting, such as paper, canvas and paints are all provided free of charge.’P3	resources that older customers obtained from employees	Older customers’ access to employees’ resources	Resource integration
‘I respect them. When you respect others, you respect yourself. Self-esteem results from respecting others.’P9	capability of self-evaluation	Self-esteem	The need for affection

Table 7. Qualitative insights into the relationship between social interactions and wellbeing.

Quantitative	Qualitative
Positive social interactions with employees have positive effects on older customers’ social well-being	Social interactions with employees lead to the fulfillment of the following needs which help older customers attain social well-being: –the need for security, –the need for affection, –the need for behavioral confirmation, the need for status, –the need for connectedness to a society Resources between employees and older customers were integrated during their interactions to generate transformative outcomes. This process included accessing, adapting, and integrating these resources. The resource integration between employees and older customers is reciprocal and takes place in a looped manner.
Social connectedness has positive effects on older customers’ social well-being.	The social components of participation in social activities such as building social networks, receiving social support, and strengthening social ties fulfilled older customers’ need to feel cared for by others and gave them a sense of belonging to a group/community.

Chaulagain, S., Li, J., & Pizam, A. (2022). What matters, and what matters most? Exploring resident satisfaction in continuing care retirement communities. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 34(7), 2472–2495. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-09-2021-1105

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Sie, L., Pegg, S., & Phelan, K. V. (2021). Senior tourists’ self-determined motivations, tour preferences, memorable experiences and subjective well-being: An integrative hierarchical model. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 47, 237–251. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2021.03.006

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Chaulagain, S., Pizam, A., Wang, Y., Severt, D., & Oetjen, R. (2021). Factors affecting seniors’ decision to relocate to senior living communities. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 95, 102920. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2021.102920

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Altinay, L., Song, H., Madanoglu, M., & Wang, X. L. (2019). The influence of customer-to-customer interactions on elderly consumers’ satisfaction and social well-being. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 78, 223–233. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2018.09.005

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Feng, K., Altinay, L., & Olya, H. (2019). Social well-being and transformative service research: Evidence from China. Journal of Services Marketing, 33(6), 735–750. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-10-2018-0294

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Hwang, J., & Lee, J. (2019). A strategy for enhancing senior tourists’ well-being perception: Focusing on the experience economy. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 36(3), 314–329. https://doi.org/10.1080/10548408.2018.1541776

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Song, H., Altinay, L., Sun, N., & Wang, X. L. (2018). The influence of social interactions on senior customers’ experiences and loneliness. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 30(8), 2773–2790. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-07-2017-0442

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Lee, J. E., & Severt, D. (2017). The role of hospitality service quality in third places for the elderly: An exploratory study. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 58(2), 214–221. https://doi.org/10.1177/1938965516686110

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Kim, H., Woo, E., & Uysal, M. (2015). Tourism experience and quality of life among elderly tourists. Tourism Management, 46, 465–476. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2014.08.002

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Kazeminia, A., Del Chiappa, G., & Jafari, J. (2015). Seniors’ travel constraints and their coping strategies. Journal of Travel Research, 54(1), 80–93. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287513506290

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Chen, K. H., Liu, H. H., & Chang, F. H. (2013). Essential customer service factors and the segmentation of older visitors within wellness tourism based on hot springs hotels. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 35, 122–132. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2013.05.013

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar