Inner‐age satisfaction in Africa and Asia: a cross‐cultural exploration

Abstract

Field survey studies undertaken in Nigeria, Korea, China and India explored the way inner‐age satisfaction is experienced in those culturally diverse societies. Chronologically 20 to 59 year old respondents’ inner‐age satisfaction was gauged as the average difference between feel, look, do, and interest cognitive (self‐perceived) and desired (ideal) inner‐age dimensions. Analyses of covariance (with chronological age factored out) across the four nations showed Nigeria to differ significantly in terms of inner‐age satisfaction from each Asian population, contrary to the Asian societies where no differences were found across samples (except between Korea and India where inner‐age satisfaction differed at a p .05). High levels of satisfaction with inner‐age (coming about when cognitive and desired ages are equal) commonly transpired: 31.4 per cent of Indian, 36.9 per cent of Nigerian, 44.3 per cent of Chinese, and 44.9 per cent of Korean respondents. Age dissatisfaction in an elder direction (ideal age older than self‐perceived age) was atypical and happened most often among Nigerian (23.4 per cent) and least among Korean subjects (10.7 per cent). In contrast, wishing for a younger innerage was a commonplace phenomenon in India (50.6 per cent of the sample), as well as in China where it occurred the least (36.6 per cent). The study’s findings imply the universal nature of the way human beings (irrespective of culture) perceive and feel about inner‐age, as well as the potential of an inner‐age satisfaction psychographic as a relevant consumer behavior segmentation trait for marketing planners of age‐sensitive products and services who seek to standardize their global branding and distribution.

Citation

Barak, B., Mathur, A., Zhang, Y., Lee, K. and Erondu, E. (2003), "Inner‐age satisfaction in Africa and Asia: a cross‐cultural exploration", Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, Vol. 15 No. 1/2, pp. 3-26. https://doi.org/10.1108/13555850310765042