Exploring Italian Elderly Consumers' Attitudes Towards Green Products: A Dynamic Grey SERVQUAL Approach
Description
This study aimed to explore the attitudes of elderly consumers in Italy towards green mattresses, given the increasing significance of environmental consciousness in consumer behavior. The attitudes and preferences of the elderly are growing in importance as population aging presents challenges for healthcare systems, markets, and broader socioeconomic policies. The objective was to identify gaps between the expectations and perceptions of elderly consumers regarding the quality dimensions of green mattresses using a novel SERVQUAL framework grounded in grey systems theory. Analyzing this demographic's perceptions and behaviors provides insights into the evolving landscape of green consumerism. A total of 47 elderly participants aged between 60 and 75 years in Italy were surveyed using a comprehensive questionnaire. The study employed a novel SERVQUAL framework grounded in grey systems theory to assess consumer expectations and perceptions across three primary dimensions—reliability, assurance, and tangibles. The Dynamic Grey Relational Analysis (DGRA) method was integrated to address the inherent uncertainty found in subjective customer feedback, enabling the conversion of survey data into grey numbers and intervals. Key findings highlighted substantial negative gaps across most quality dimensions of green mattresses. Notably, gaps in the areas of reliability, assurance, and tangibles were identified, suggesting that the quality of green mattresses often does not meet the anticipated standards of this demographic, especially concerning environmental attributes. The results underscore the pressing need for brands to elevate their product quality and enhance transparency. Aligning both production and marketing with the values of the elderly demographic is vital for the green mattress industry. This research offers a roadmap for companies, especially in elderly healthcare industries, emphasizing the importance of addressing perceptual gaps and accentuating green attributes. The integration of the SERVQUAL model with grey systems theory provides a pioneering analytical approach that can be expanded to other products and demographics. Also, This research highlights the potential for green products like mattresses to promote health and wellbeing among the elderly demographic relating to the field of healthcare. ِThe "Dynamic GRA" file shows the analysis process. The "Raw data" file shows the raw data of the research that collected by questionnaires.