The moderating role of involvement on elderly participation and perceived service quality in recreational services

Abstract

Customers in today's complex service business environment have been paying close attention to the value delivered. They expect to receive quality services by transforming their role from passively receiving to actively participating in service co-creation processes. The emerging paradigm of customers' participative role gives rise to the attention of the elderly service users due to the fact that they are highly relied on medical and health services in retirement life, which has long been concerned by governments as well as communities. Although vast literature has investigated in the quality of retirement life in terms of perceived service value and satisfaction, research in the role of elderly participation in recreational activity services and its consequences remain limited. In an attempt to better understand the role of elderly and their importance in contributing to the effectiveness and efficiency of the co-creation of recreational activity services; this study aims to explore how elders' participation plays an important role in mediating the effect of anticipated sacrifice on perceived service quality. Further, the moderating effect of involvement on anticipated sacrifice and perceived service quality is examined. Focus groups were conducted in order to address the un-researched issues and factors of anticipated sacrifice and the elders' participation in recreational activity. A questionnaire survey was administered with 273 elderly home residents in Hong Kong. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that anticipated sacrifice is composed of two dimensions: performance task and psychological concerns. Elders' participation is made up of three dimensions: participation in service design and standard build-up, interaction with service employees, as well as information collection. Findings from the structural equation modeling demonstrated that anticipated sacrifice has a positive effect on the activeness of elderly participation, which in turn, increases perceived service quality and perceived service value. Results from the simple-slop analysis revealed a significant moderating impact of the high-level of involvement on anticipated sacrifice and elders' participation, suggesting that elderly were more intended to express their concerns and needs to caregivers when they have a high interest in recreational activities. It is believed that empirical findings of this study would provide insight into the relationships between anticipated sacrifice and elders' participation in the co-creation processes, and would shed light on the conceptual issues related the elders' perceptions and expectations on recreational services for both academia and practitioners. Future research might consider the caregivers' role in facilitating elderly participation and how the potential moderating variables, such as training and experience effects on the quality of retirement life.