The purpose of this study was to examine the elderly person's consumer complaint behavior and susceptibility to misleading and deceptive practices in the marketplace. The study was based on social integration theory, which concerns a person's ties to society. Also included was the concept of perceived adequacy of resources. Resource categories examined in the present study included financial resources, time resources, and knowledge/skills resources. / A mailing list was purchased from American List Counsel, Inc., Princeton, New Jersey, to obtain a nationwide random sample of persons age 65 and older. Respondents to the mailed questionnaires included 143 males (56.3%) and 107 females (42.1%) and four unknown. The total response rate of usable questionnaires was 27% (n = 254). Mean age of the respondents was 71. / Results of this study indicated that social integration was not related to an elderly person's susceptibility to misleading/deceptive practices or his/her consumer complaint behaviors. An elderly person's perception of his/her resources was not related to his/her consumer complaint actions. Moreover, there was no significant relationship indicated for perception of resource adequacy and susceptibility to misleading practices. / Analysis of the data revealed a weak but significant rank correlation existed between age and complaint behaviors. In regard to perceived adequacy of resources and age, only the financial resources category showed any significance. Finally, a weak but significant relationship existed between age and susceptibility to misleading and deceptive practices in the marketplace. / Implications and suggestions for future research include continued emphasis on consumer education for elderly persons and assessing individual characteristics, particularly personality, as indicators of consumer complaint behaviors and susceptibility to misleading and deceptive practices. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-03, Section: A, page: 0765. / Major Professor: Elizabeth B. Goldsmith. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1990.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_78208 |
| Contributors | Walters, Teryl Ann., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 150 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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