Are older adults really that different? Some insights from gerontechnology

Gerontechnology is a promising area of research. This study aims to extend knowledge in the area by providing an effective targeting strategy for gerontechnologies. Using near field communication (NFC)-enabled technology in the form of NFC light system (NLS), the study exposes a sample of older adults to this form of gerontechnology and examines their ease-of-use and usefulness evaluations of NLS and the subsequent impacts of these evaluations on their intentions to use NLS. Given a resulting scenario in which older adults considered NLS easy to use and useful, the study investigates whether demographic, psychographic, and behavioral characteristics produce any differences in their intentions to use NLS. The results reveal that older adults do not differ in their intentions to use NLS when demographics and psychographics are considered. Instead, older adults with positive attitudes toward NLS are more likely to use NLS than those with negative attitudes toward NLS. Thus, these findings suggest that an undifferentiated targeting strategy should be used for gerontechnologies, especially NFC-enabled technology, such as NLS, and that further research should concentrate on eliciting positive attitudes among older adults to persuade desired behaviors, such as greater intention to use and actual use of gerontechnologies.