Grumpier Old Men: Age and Sex Differences in the Evaluation of New Services

Abstract

Little research attention has centered on how age and sex affect consumers' evaluations of new products and services. In this study an individual's age and sex are associated with his or her evaluation of new services, that is, newly released motion pictures. Using data acquired from publicly available and proprietary sources, nearly 2,100 motion pictures released in the U nited S tates from 1982 through 2000 were analyzed. The results show that older consumers are more critical of new services and rate them lower after consuming them relative to younger ones. The results also show that women evaluate new services significantly more favorably than men. Interestingly, these results appear robust because women did not rate products that are normally developed and targeted to men (e.g., action/adventure and science‐fiction movies) lower than men evaluated them; no evidence to support the notion of a “chick flick” was found. Implications for conducting marketing research when developing new products and services are offered.