Exploring elderly customer-employee rapport in services: Managerial and social implications
Citation
Tosun, P. (2021). Exploring elderly customer-employee rapport in services: Managerial and social implications. In Y.Bayar (Ed.), Handbook of Research on Economic and Social Impacts of Population Aging (pp. 221-245). IGI Global, USA.Abstract
The increasing share of older people in the population has influenced the economic and social life and
services sectors. Banking services are integrated into almost all of the daily transactions and inevitable
for older consumers. This study aims to examine the special needs and expectations of older customers in retail banking. A survey was conducted on frontline salespeople in branches. The findings have
shown that older consumers expect special attention from their customer relationship managers. The
relationship managers have positive attitudes toward older consumers and high customer-employee
rapport levels. Attitude and rapport constructs are positively and significantly correlated. In addition,
relationship managers were divided into three clusters depending on their rapport levels and perceived
branch visit reasons. This chapter has provided current empirical findings, insights, and managerial
recommendations about customer-employee relationships in the older consumers and services contexts.