The role of employee's age in senior customers' evaluation of the service encounter : a phenomenological study

Developed countries are faced with rapidly changing demographic trends and, in particular, with an increasing number of gray citizens. At the same time, there is also a major decrease in birth rates causing great changes in the labor force where the numbers of older employees are constantly increasing. This paper reports on a program of qualitative research aiming to explore whether the age of a service employee affects senior customers’ evaluation of the service encounter. The findings suggest that worker’s age does affect senior customers’ evaluation and identifies their perceptions of older service employees. Suggestions for further research are also included