A Study of Life Events, Stress and Coping Strategies among Older Adults in Malaysia: Implications for Marketers

Although the positive relationship between life events and stress has been well researched in the behavioral and social sciences, the relationship between life events and consumer behavior has scarcely been examined especially in developing economies such as Malaysia. This paper is an attempt to examine the impact of life events on older adults from the perspective of consumer behavior. It is based on the theoretical underpinnings that occurrence of life events brings about stress which in turn motivates people to seek changes in behavior as consumers. The positive relationship posits that the larger the number of life events experienced, the greater the level of stress experienced and hence the more the changes in consumer behavior. Methodology adopted for the study is the door-to-door survey method using non-probability quota sampling. Findings support that life events are positively related to changes in brand preference and consumption-related lifestyles changes in consumer-related lifestyles bring about changes in brand preference. Brand preference changes could also be observed for a limited number of life events examined.