Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Over the next decade, more than 30 Western countries are expected to reach super-aging status, with over 20% of their populations aged 65 and older. This demographic shift will have far-reaching consequences for societies, organizations, markets, and individuals. This essay introduces the Silver Economy as a practical and integrative lens for understanding these changes and for guiding business and policy responses. It outlines a research and action agenda organized around three key arenas of transformation—workplaces, markets, and firms—where organizations can take proactive steps to support healthy longevity and inclusive participation. Within these arenas, nine guideposts are proposed to connect insights across disciplines and levels of analysis. Collectively, this agenda seeks to create value on three fronts: improving individual wellbeing, enabling sustainable business growth, and contributing to a resilient and inclusive society.

Keywords

aging change demography human resource management leadership organizational change

Introduction

Over the next decade, more than 30 Western countries are projected to become super-aged societies, with one in five citizens aged 65 or older—a demographic transition unprecedented in scope outside Japan (Beard & Bloom, 2015; European Commission, 2018). This shift will fundamentally alter how work is organized, how markets deliver value, and how firms approach transformation (Chand & Tung, 2014; George et al., 2019). Rather than framing aging solely as a societal or organizational constraint, we argue that the notion of The Silver Economy presents an investable opportunity: a cross-cutting reconfiguration of workplaces, markets, and firms with potential to unlock participation, capability, and economic growth (Butt et al., 2023; European Commission, 2018).

Two pressing challenges make action urgent. First, inverted demographic pyramids are creating structural labor shortages, compelling employers to rethink workforce management and to invest in life-course career design and the mobilization of later-life expertise (Chand & Tung, 2014; Colurcio et al., 2022). Second, the rapidly growing demand for healthy longevity exposes wide gaps in age-appropriate products and services, as the needs, preferences, and consumption patterns of aging consumers shift (Colurcio et al., 2022; George et al., 2019). Accessibility, affordability, and relevance must therefore be intentionally engineered into future business models.

Building on recent policy and scholarship, which define the silver economy as the system of economic activities enabling older adults to live healthy, active, and productive lives (Butt et al., 2023; Colurcio et al., 2022; European Commission, 2018), we advance a research and practice agenda for shaping business strategies and organizational responses to super-aged societies. Through this future-oriented, prospective stance, we argue that the silver economy is not a narrow sector but a system-level innovation space across HR, leadership, and market strategy (European Commission, 2018).

The core contribution of this essay is to articulate nine guideposts that specify actionable levers and research priorities for three critical arenas: transforming workplaces (fostering sustainable careers, capability-first language, and problem-native artificial intelligence [AI]), transforming markets (activating senior potential and supporting autonomy and wellbeing), and transforming firms (involving seniors in strategic reorientation and connecting transformation initiatives). Each guidepost connects managerial action with research insight to accelerate discovery and implementation.

Our aim is to move the field from mapping challenges to catalyzing innovation, converting population aging from a cost narrative into an affirmative value thesis—for individual wellbeing, sustainable business outcomes, and societal resilience (Butt et al., 2023; Chand & Tung, 2014; European Commission, 2018; George et al., 2019).

The Silver Economy: Opportunities for Business Innovation and Transformation

The silver economy typically denotes economic activities linked to aging populations, often defined as 50+, and spans consumer markets and labor participation (Mele et al., 2022). Narrow conceptions emphasize the supply of goods and services tailored to older consumers, whereas we adopt a broader conception that includes strategies to extend working lives and promote health, self-care, volunteerism, and active citizenship (Bieszk-Stolorz et al., 2024; Klimczuk, 2016). Moreover, the silver economy is cross-sectoral rather than sector-bound, cutting across health and long-term care, finance, housing, mobility, tourism, and technology, thereby requiring integrated strategies and governance rather than siloed programs (Colurcio et al., 2022; Mele et al., 2022).

The silver economy research shows rapid growth since the early 2000s, with thematic shifts from macro policy and labor participation (1979–1999), to expanded socioeconomic and technology/market topics (2000–2009), to specialization in finance, pensions, regional strategies, targeted products, new work activities, and connected technologies (2010–2019), followed by post-2019 acceleration toward tech enabled and organizational transformations catalyzed by the COVID-19 pandemic (Álvarez-Diez et al., 2023; Colurcio et al., 2022; Rahman et al., 2024). Although, the need for actionable impact is evident, much of what is known has yet to inspire widespread change.

The estimated value of the silver economy—only in Europe—has been estimated at 5.7 trillion Euro in 2025 (European Commission, 2018). Still, business awareness and strategic mobilization remain limited; many firms underserve older consumers and underutilize older workers, and actionable guidance for managers remains thin, indicating an execution gap between demographic reality and firm behavior (George et al., 2019; McGuirk et al., 2022). These gaps motivate a business-led research agenda that specifies where and how firms can create value with and for aging populations.

The following future scoping agenda is thus organized around three transformation arenas—workplaces, markets, and firms—and articulated through nine specific and thought-provoking guideposts aiming for actionable insights.

Transforming Workplaces

In the last decade, research on how organizations can transform workplaces to extend employees’ working lives has expanded significantly. We argue that a broader perspective spanning across generations is needed. Scholars have mobilized concepts such as “successful aging at work,” “age-inclusive workplaces,” and “age-friendly leadership” to address which changes at the macro, meso, and micro levels enable longer working lives. In brief, at the macro level, pension systems, labor market conditions, and related policy reforms are needed (Katiraee et al., 2024); at the meso level, HR practices, organizational culture and leadership, and age-diverse climates are central (Boehm et al., 2021); and at the micro level, person–environment fit, job demands–resources, attitudes, autonomy, and employee adaptation are emphasized (Kooij et al., 2020). Thus, multiple factors across levels matter for prolonging work life. However, we argue that the research agenda can be pushed further by advancing three thought-provoking guideposts: sustainable careers from the outset; label the value, not the age; and design AI for “problem natives” to accelerate senior adoption.

Guidepost 1: Promote Sustainable Careers, Not Late-Stage Fix

The sustainable careers perspective widens the lens to the entire lifespan and broadens the intervention space beyond seniors alone. In this view, careers are sequences of experiences over time, embedded across life domains and contexts, and evaluated via three indicators—health, happiness, and productivity—emerging from the interplay of person, context, and time, and implying shared responsibility between individuals and organizations (De Vos et al., 2020). Like the successful aging at work tradition, sustainable careers scholars emphasize person–career fit, but extend the inquiry to how fit is built, maintained, and restored across the whole career. Recent contributions call for greater attention to intra-individual aging processes, cross-domain interdependencies (work–family–individual), and a multidimensional operationalization of age (chronological, organizational/tenure, functional/work ability, and sociopsychological), to better capture changing career needs and opportunities across the life course (Van der Heijden et al., 2020).

We propose calls to action for scholars and managers on questions such as: Which early- and mid-career resources (e.g., development opportunities, future fit, flexibility, and recovery practices) predict later-life work ability, motivation to continue, and retirement timing? How do chronological, organizational (tenure), functional (work ability), and sociopsychological age differentially predict the three sustainability indicators and successful aging at work outcomes over time? How do changes in family/caregiving demands and nonwork recovery practices interact with organizational supports to shape the health–happiness–productivity triad across ages?

Guidepost 2: Label the Value, Not the Age

We need knowledge on how to combat age discrimination (ageism) and suggest that the language we use is essential in this regard. A recent OECD report (OECD, 2025) reveals that ageism continues to be one of the main barriers for extending workers’ careers. Ageism can be defined as “the stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination towards people on the basis of age” (WHO, 2018, p. 295). An important element of ageism is the language or everyday words used for describing older workers (Previtali et al., 2020), and how this can lead to “too old for” narratives. Interestingly, not only employers, but employees (older workers) themselves engage in upholding this narrative and ageist language (Rahn et al., 2020). As an example, our own data collection among seniors in Norway showed how the extra holiday week after turning 60 years, was named “dementia week” by the seniors themselves (Berntsen & Furu, 2025). Ageism is produced and reproduced through everyday discourse and institutional practices. Workers of different ages experience and internalize ageist narratives, which shape identity, opportunity allocation, and decisions about development or exit, underscoring language as a central element of ageism (Previtali et al., 2020). Nevertheless, it is possible to alter ageism through explicit age-inclusive statements when selecting members to a team. For instance, de Saint Priest and Krings (2024) found that short diversity statements can increase selection rates of older workers so that teams become more age-balanced.

We encourage researchers and managers to contribute new insights on combating agism by examining questions such as: How can removing or replacing age-coded phrasing in job ads shape the volume, quality, and progression of senior applicants through hiring stages? How do age-diversity statements change behavior in organizational settings, and how can complementary levers (e.g., accountability and incentives) strengthen or weaken their effects? How can different wordings and discourse styles in talent processes (e.g., job ads, performance reviews, and calibration discussions) be identified and adapted to reduce age bias, and how do these language choices relate to senior workers’ engagement, promotion, and retention?

Guidepost 3: Support Senior Workers as Fast AI Adopters

To implement generative AI for business opportunity creation—not only for efficiency—organizations should prioritize “problem natives,” not necessarily “digital natives.”

Following the introduction of generative AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot), research interest has surged around how to create business value with these systems. Evidence from general technology adoption shows that older workers often report lower digital confidence and a greater need for support when adopting and applying new systems than younger workers (Fazi et al., 2025). However, these studies largely examined technologies other than generative AI, which only recently entered widespread use. Recent studies on generative AI adoption generally find that less experienced and lower skilled workers realize the largest efficiency gains, particularly on routine tasks (Brynjolfsson et al., 2025; Dell'Acqua et al., 2023). At the same time, these studies highlight that expert oversight is essential for more complex tasks, where reviewing, validating, and interpreting generative AI outputs becomes critical. A conclusion then is that experts (often senior workers) add value by judging when the tool is trustworthy and by correcting errors and hallucinations. Moreover, because large language models respond best to tailored, multistep, task-specific prompts (Wang et al., 2024), more experienced workers (often senior workers) have greater potential to craft higher quality prompts.

This insight shifts the traditional view of senior workers as laggard technology adopters, and should motivates studies and managers curiosity on: Do experienced late-career workers generate higher quality prompts and detect AI errors faster on complex, noisy tasks than less experienced workers when given identical tools? Does involving senior experts in codesigning AI workflows improve adoption persistence and outcome quality relative to standard training? Does reframing seniors as “problem natives” (vs. “nontechnical”) increase adoption and reprompt persistence under uncertainty?

Transforming Markets and Market Offerings

Marketing and management research has historically underrepresented elderly consumers, often privileging younger individuals as symbols of innovation, early adoption, and attractiveness. We advance the term “silver consumers” to shift the focus to the strengths of elderly in terms of capability, experience, and untapped potential. The current age bias has shaped market offerings and service strategies, overlooking the growing relevance of senior adults as a distinct and economically influential segment. Silver consumers now possess increasing spending power (Eisend, 2022), and their needs, preferences, and behaviors require service offerings that move beyond reductive stereotypes (Dionigi, 2015; Heinonen et al., 2025). Traditional approaches to defining “older adults” often rely on fixed chronological thresholds, which are arbitrary and fail to capture meaningful life-cycle transitions (Dionigi, 2015; Kotschy et al., 2024; Snyder et al., 2025). Flexible, context-dependent measures—such as average or legal retirement age—better reflect relevant shifts in consumer behavior and allow comparisons across cultural and societal contexts (Eisend, 2022).

Silver consumers are inconsistently represented in research and practice, sometimes framed as vulnerable consumers and other times as active participants (Boudiny, 2013; Colurcio et al., 2022). Common portrayals, especially in healthcare or institutional contexts, tend to emphasize dependency and fragility (Amine et al., 2021; Bermúdez-González et al., 2016; Čaic et al., 2018; Henkel et al., 2020; Jiang et al., 2025). Yet these depictions often misalign with silver consumers’ self-perceptions and capabilities. Evidence indicates that silver consumers can exercise agency, co-create value, and contribute to economic and social systems when provided with enabling environments, tools, and inclusive practices (Fisk et al., 2023; Heinonen et al., 2025).

Systematic research into the silver economy remains partial. Key areas requiring further emphasis include service design and innovation, wellbeing and care experiences, technology adoption, consumer behavior, and public-sector services (Colurcio et al., 2022; Kabadayi et al., 2020). A strengths-based, participatory perspective can address these gaps, positioning senior adults as active contributors, co-creators, and agents of innovation, rather than as passive recipients of care (Heinonen et al., 2025). The following three guideposts offer a renewed perspective on aging and its implications for consumers, markets, and marketing. One centers on capabilities and contributions, another on the active role of senior adults in shaping offerings, and a third on the conditions that support sustained participation. Together they establish a basis for inclusive and opportunity-oriented market strategies.

Guidepost 4: Reframe the Perspective of Aging as Capability and Value

Central to the silver economy's potential is the adoption of a strengths-based approach that foregrounds senior adults’ capabilities, agency, and potential in markets rather than framing them primarily in terms of vulnerability, decline, or dependency (Boudiny, 2013). This guidepost establishes a conceptual foundation for rethinking aging populations. It challenges the dominant narrative of decline by positioning aging as a phase characterized by capability, experience, and untapped potential. By shifting the focus from deficits to strengths, it reimagines older adults as contributors to economic and social systems, not merely as recipients of care or protection.

A strengths-based lens reframes how senior adults are seen in society, emphasizing their capacity to take responsibility for their own aging while actively participating in economic, social, and community life (Fisk et al., 2023; Freeman et al., 2025; Heinonen et al., 2025; Kabadayi et al., 2020; Moyle et al., 2014; Russell-Bennett et al., 2023). Aging is thus seen as a dynamic process marked by lifelong, proactive pursuit of wellbeing not only for oneself but also in ways that support the wellbeing of other generations (Heinonen et al., 2025). This approach builds on care frameworks (Moyle et al., 2014), inclusive co-design approaches (Marston et al., 2023; Russell-Bennett et al., 2023) that recognize and leverage the knowledge, skills, and lived experiences of senior adults. From this perspective, aging is not merely a stage of loss but a dynamic process in which senior adults exercise agency and influence the services and systems around them.

In practice, this approach encourages marketing strategies that promote autonomy, empowerment, and intergenerational engagement, helping senior consumers actively shape their own experiences while contributing meaningfully to service ecosystems. Questions to consider in future research and for managers include: How can services identify and leverage senior adults’ existing capabilities? In what ways can marketing and communication foreground strengths rather than deficits? How might intergenerational collaboration enhance value creation and wellbeing? How can services, policies, and markets identify and leverage senior adults’ existing capabilities?

Guidepost 5: Position Senior Adults as Active Co-Creators in Society

The silver economy thrives when senior adults are engaged not just as consumers, but as partners in shaping markets, technologies, and policies. This guidepost emphasizes viewing silver consumers as active contributors to social, economic, and service ecosystems (Fisk et al., 2023; Freeman et al., 2025; Moyle et al., 2014; Russell-Bennett et al., 2023). It focuses on the mechanisms of engagement—the concrete ways in which senior adults participate in shaping services, technologies, and societal solutions. Silver consumers are positioned as partners in innovation, whose insights, preferences, and experiences drive the development of products, services, and policies.

Senior adults engage dynamically with services, co-creating value alongside providers, technologies, and policy actors (Heinonen et al., 2025; Rahman et al., 2024). Acknowledging the heterogeneity of senior adults’ experiences, abilities, and aspirations, challenges stereotypical portrayals in marketing and communication and shifts attention from simplistic age-based segmentation (Dionigi, 2015; Eisend, 2022; Rahn et al., 2020; Snyder et al., 2025). Participatory service design and innovation initiatives enable senior adults to actively shape service offerings, contribute knowledge and preferences, and engage in multiactor networks that generate social and economic value (Colurcio et al., 2022; Heinonen et al., 2025; Kabadayi et al., 2020; Mele et al., 2022; Rahman et al., 2024).

Digital engagement plays a key role in this transformation. Technological innovations have become central to service delivery in the silver economy, particularly in healthcare and home assistance. Senior adults increasingly use social platforms to access information, maintain social connections, and reduce loneliness (Di Bernardo et al., 2022). This challenges outdated perceptions of silver consumers as passive or isolated and highlights their active participation in both social and economic networks. Tools such as cognitive assistants, service robots, and digital health platforms act as boundary objects that mediate interactions and facilitate value co-creation (Čaic et al., 2018; Daskalopoulou et al., 2019; Mele et al., 2022). These innovations—ranging from user-friendly digital interfaces to participatory service design—address both functional and experiential dimensions of service quality (Bianchi, 2021; Colurcio et al., 2022; Grougiou & Pettigrew, 2011; Kabadayi et al., 2020).

Inclusive design processes, participatory platforms, and multiactor collaborations transform value from a received outcome into a co-created experience, ensuring that the silver economy is not only about serving senior adults but co-developing futures with them. Questions to consider for researcher and managers include: How do senior adults influence service design, delivery, and innovation processes? What mechanisms enable meaningful engagement and co-creation in multiactor ecosystems? How can organizations recognize and address the diversity of senior adults’ needs and contributions without reinforcing stereotypes?

Guidepost 6: Strengthen Resilience and Autonomy Across the Aging Journey

Sustained participation in the silver economy depends on the resources, networks, and supports that enable older adults to adapt, recover, and thrive throughout life transitions. This guidepost focuses on the enabling conditions that protect independence and maintain meaningful participation in economic, social, and civic life. It emphasizes the interplay between individual resources—such as health, skills, and social networks—organizational practices, and societal supports in sustaining wellbeing over time (Fisk et al., 2023; Freeman et al., 2025). Importantly, silver consumers’ satisfaction is shaped not only by accessibility and personalization but also by perceptions of respect, empowerment, and agency (Colurcio et al., 2022; Kabadayi et al., 2020). Recognizing senior adults’ capacity to adapt, exercise self-determination, and remain engaged highlights how services, interventions, and technologies can reinforce autonomy, strengthen confidence, and bridge barriers such as the digital divide (Colurcio et al., 2022; Fisk et al., 2023; Kabadayi et al., 2020; Vigolo et al., 2025). In doing so, this guidepost views aging as a period of active continuity, ensuring that the silver economy remains both accessible and sustainable, even as individuals and societies navigate the transitions and challenges of later life.

By concentrating on the enabling conditions for adaptive capacity, this guidepost highlights the importance of sustainable participation over time. It shifts attention from the static provision of services to the dynamic interplay of resources, agency, and supportive systems that collectively uphold autonomy, resilience, and long-term engagement in the silver economy. Questions to consider include: What factors enable or inhibit resilience and autonomy in later life? How can services and societal systems support senior adults in navigating transitions while sustaining wellbeing? In what ways can interventions strengthen both individual and systemic capacities to maintain independence and participation? What personal, organizational, and societal supports enable senior adults to adapt, recover, and sustain autonomy throughout life transitions?

Transforming Firms

Incumbent firms need to reorient their market offerings and business models toward seniors. We argue this can be done by involving and learning from seniors and connecting changes tied to the super-aged society with other transformation initiatives. Although there is high awareness of the aging population, few incumbent firms appear to be targeting the older market segment (Matsuno & Kohlbacher, 2019). Managers and management scholars cannot claim that they did not see it coming. Indeed, over 10 years ago, management scholars defined the aging population as one of the grand challenges of our time (Chand & Tung, 2014; Kulik et al., 2014). Firms (and managers) may have perceived population aging as a slow-moving process looming in the far distance rather than a burning issue. Yet, even in countries that have already become super-aged, such as Japan, many firms have failed to adapt. Perceived ambiguity regarding the implications of the aging society and/or limited controllability has paralyzed firms from action (Matsuno & Kohlbacher, 2019).

While incumbents appear hesitant to reorient their market offerings toward senior citizens, entrepreneurial firms are more proactive. Particularly older entrepreneurs—so-called silver entrepreneurs—contribute to the silver economy by creating ventures that cater to the needs and preferences of the elderly (Barković Bojanić et al., 2024). The following three guideposts offer a basis for firm transformation.

Guidepost 7: Learn From the Silver Entrepreneurs

Established firms reorient their offerings, not only by advancing their understanding of preferences and needs among diverse silver consumers (as discussed in the previous section), but also by mobilizing within-firm support and commitment for developing new innovative products and services for an aging population. While policy reports point to new opportunities for traditional industries such as finance, tourism, housing, and education, and research has identified consequences for, for example, automobile companies, banks, housing, and telemedicine (Chand & Tung, 2014), there is limited empirical research documenting such transformations. For instance, within housing, the building stock in Europe today is not fit to support older adults with declining functional capacities. A total of 70% of houses in the United Kingdom and 90% of those in Germany are simply not suitable for older adults (European Commission, 2015; Rogelj & Bogataj, 2019) as they have different needs due to declining functional capacities. Housing that attends to physical and social needs can allow the elderly to remain healthy, independent, and autonomous longer (Lui et al., 2009) and lead to greater wellbeing while mitigating the increased demand for health care (Rogelj & Bogataj, 2019).

One well-known approach to innovation within an incumbent firm is to mimic the entrepreneurs by establishing a separate unit that operates like a startup (O'Reilly & Tushman, 2013). Incumbents targeting the silver economy can benefit from looking specifically at silver entrepreneurs. Late-career entrepreneurs (also called silver entrepreneurs) are more likely than younger founders to introduce product/service innovations that are “new to the market” (Murmann et al., 2023). They also invest more in the commercialization of radical innovations than their younger counterparts (Wilden et al., 2023). Indeed, the silver entrepreneurs contribute at three levels: Societal level through economic growth generated by, for example, taxes (Schott et al., 2017); Firm level by creating job opportunities for others through new ventures; Individual level through improved wellbeing and quality of life for themselves (Kautonen et al., 2017).

Learning from the silver entrepreneurs requires insight among incumbents and researchers on questions such as: What is distinctive among silver entrepreneurs as compared with other entrepreneurs and how can this knowledge be transferred to incumbents? How can incumbents establish and manage beneficial partnerships with silver entrepreneurs? What practices and processes enable incumbents and existing industries to reorient themselves towards the silver economy? At the industry level, research would benefit from exploring whether the silver economy will entail new forms of organizing where startups and smaller entities become the engines of the silver economy landscape while incumbents become less influential, potentially leading to a need to scale down rather than aim for continuous growth.

Guidepost 8: Involve Silver Employees in Participatory Transformation Processes

Systematically involving senior employees in innovation and transformation can be beneficial for incumbent firms. The super-aged society, with its many elderly, brings an untapped resource consisting of late-career entrepreneurs (Maritz et al., 2021), who create value both for themselves and for society. Seniors have first-hand knowledge of the needs and preferences of the elderly, and they have extensive experience in work life, potentially also in innovation and transformation processes. Yet, currently, senior employees are creating these opportunities proactively, through their own efforts as entrepreneurs.

Seniors who start a business instead of retiring or remaining in their current job experience a significant increase in their quality of life, despite making less money on average (Kautonen et al., 2017). They experience significant personal fulfillment and satisfaction from their work (Barković Bojanić et al., 2024). Entrepreneurship also reduce social exclusion (Stypińska et al., 2019). Ultimately, the individual-level benefits spill over to the firm and societal levels by alleviating challenges such as labor shortages and financial pressures (Kautonen et al., 2017; Schott et al., 2017) and reducing medical costs and healthcare needs (Bojanić et al., 2024).

Two key factors enable the success of silver entrepreneurs. First, silver entrepreneurs’ substantial job experience increases their capacity to generate more radical innovations. Second, participating in meaningful activities, such as entrepreneurship, helps individuals maintain a sense of purpose and identity (Barković Bojanić et al., 2024). Combining these insights with existing research on participatory change processes (Budd et al., 2010; Ford & Ford, 2009; Pasmore & Fagans, 1992) motivates novel research and managerial action on topics such as: What are key features of participatory transformation processes involving senior employees? How can firms encourage and foster intergenerational participation in firm transformation targeting the silver economy? What strategies can incumbent firms implement to effectively leverage the experience and insights of late-career employees in developing innovative products and services for an aging society?

Guidepost 9: Connect With, Rather Than Compete With, Other Transformation Initiatives

In addition to the aging population, several other grand challenges are competing for attention, such as environmental issues, social inequality, political instability, and technological development. Firms need to search for connections between transformation initiatives to boost momentum rather than risk competing demands on attention and resources. While there appears to be broad agreement that new technology will be essential to meet the challenges of the silver economy (such as through health-tech products, using technology to replace humans in healthcare), there is a risk that a multitude of organizational change initiatives will collide (Kanitz et al., 2022) and crowd-out attention and resources needed to contribute to the silver economy.

Change scholars and managers could benefit from addressing questions such as: How can managers align their firm-level transformation initiatives across different grand challenges (e.g., aging population, climate change, and AI) to create synergistic outcomes? What leadership practices are necessary to balance competing transformation agendas while maintaining a focus on societal challenges? How can firms collaborate with governments and other institutions to ensure that technological advancements serve the needs of an aging population while also addressing broader societal challenges?

Turning Silver Into Gold

Clearly, the super-aged society can bring tremendous business opportunities with potential for value creation at multiple levels. To advance understanding of the opportunities within the emerging silver economy, we have proposed integrating insights from multiple business disciplines, including HRM and Leadership, Marketing, and Strategic/Organizational Change. Figure 1 summarizes our key ideas. The framework demonstrates how new insights on the business opportunities within the silver economy can be generated by drawing on the distinctive features and strengths of each discipline. At the center of the framework, two cross-cutting themes highlight the theoretical contribution of this work.

Figure 1.

Guideposts for Turning Silver into Gold.

Intergenerationality emphasizes the importance of relationships, exchange, and collaboration across age groups, demonstrating how knowledge, experience, and perspectives from senior adults can enhance both market offerings and organizational practices. It refers to the need to avoid studying the elderly generation in isolation and instead incorporate younger generations and the dynamics between generations. For instance, successful aging at work requires collaboration across generations and long-term perspectives on career trajectories as early-career decisions can impact later possibilities. Indeed, marketing scholars have challenged current ways of categorizing consumers into specific age groups, suggesting more nuanced understandings, for instance, tied to life-cycle transitions.

Active aging emphasizes agency, capability, and sustained contribution, as aging populations are not merely recipients of care or protection but also important drivers of value creation, innovation, and adaptive capacity. It refers to the notion that senior citizens, consumers, and employees are not one-handedly passive and vulnerable. They are diverse, and many seniors find meaning, happiness, and value in remaining active and being included in work life, whether this implies working longer, becoming a silver entrepreneur or being involved in co-creating new products and services. Active aging points to elderly as an invaluable resource and takes issue with the negative language and stereotypes that tend to be associated with seniors.

The framework highlights intergenerationality and active aging across three interconnected domains. The first domain addresses careers and workplace practices, emphasizing sustainable careers, replacing age labels with capability, and harnessing seniors as problem-native AI adopters. The second focuses on consumer and societal engagement, highlighting capabilities, contributions, and co-creation. The third targets firm transformation, demonstrating how senior adults can drive participatory change and connect with broader initiatives. Together, these guideposts and themes show how aging populations can be understood not as a limitation, but as a source of value for workplaces, markets, and firms. By reframing aging as multidimensional and opportunity-driven, the framework provides both actionable insights and avenues for further research. It encourages questions about intergenerational collaboration, innovation adoption, and participatory transformation, expanding theoretical and practical understanding of the silver economy and offering a structured lens for turning the aging society into strategic value.

Conclusion

Despite the well-documented and unprecedented challenges of the super-aged society, research and practice appear inadequately equipped to address them. We assert that adopting a business perspective on aging is essential, not merely beneficial, as it reframes the discourse to emphasize the inherent opportunities within this demographic shift. Our premise is clear: the business lens offers concrete contributions to tackling these societal challenges. Building on the principles of future scoping articles, we present strategic propositions designed to catalyze actionable research-based knowledge across disciplines and levels of analysis. Our ultimate objective is to move beyond framing and responding to demographic changes as challenges, arguing instead that society should proactively shape the emerging silver economy in ways that generate value at societal, organizational and individual levels.

Footnotes

ORCID iD

Inger G. Stensaker

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

References

Álvarez-Diez

Reina Margarita

V.-E.

Víctor-Hugo

B.-G.

López-robles

(2023). The evolution research on Silver Economy: Current researches, trends, and implications for future directions. Transinformação, 35. https://doi.org/10.1590/2318-0889202335e237325

Amine

Bonnemaizon

Josion-Portail

(2021). The effect of carers’ healthcare practices on the categorization of elderly patients as vulnerable. Journal of Services Marketing, 35(5), 605–616. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-03-2020-0109

Beard

J. R.

Bloom

D. E.

(2015). Towards a comprehensive public health response to population ageing. The Lancet, 385(9968), 658–661. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(14)61461-6

Bermúdez-González

Sasaki

Tous-Zamora

(2016). Understanding the impact of internal marketing practices on both employees’ and managers’ organizational commitment in elderly care homes. Journal of Service Theory and Practice, 26(1), 28–49. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSTP-09-2014-0216

Berntsen

T. C. S.

Furu

J. M. T.

(2025). Aldersvennlig ledelse: Å gjøre sølvrevene til en gullgruve. En kvalitativ flercasestudie av hvordan seniorer kan stå lenger i arbeid [Master Thesis, NHH Norwegian School of Economics].

Bianchi

(2021). Exploring how internet services can enhance elderly wellbeing. Journal of Services Marketing, 35(5), 585–603. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-05-2020-0177

Bieszk-Stolorz

Dmytrów

Frąckiewicz

(2024). Multivariate analysis of the sustainable development of the silver economy in the European Union countries. Sustainability, 16(23), 1–21. https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/23/10703. https://doi.org/10.3390/su162310703

Boehm

S. A.

Schröder

Bal

(2021). Age-related human resource management policies and practices: Antecedents, outcomes, and conceptualizations. Work, Aging and Retirement, 7(4), 257–272. https://doi.org/10.1093/workar/waab024

Bojanić

I. B.

Erceg

Sekuloska

J. D.

(2024). Silver entrepreneurship: A golden opportunity for ageing society. Economics and Business Review, 10(1), 153–178. https://doi.org/10.18559/ebr.2024.1.1068

10.

Boudiny

(2013). ‘Active ageing’: From empty rhetoric to effective policy tool. Ageing and Society, 33(6), 1077–1098. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0144686X1200030X

11.

Brynjolfsson

Raymond

(2025). Generative AI at work. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 140(2), 889–942. https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjae044

12.

Budd

J. W.

Gollan

P. J.

Wilkinson

(2010). New approaches to employee voice and participation in organizations. Human Relations, 63(3), 303–310. https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726709348938

13.

Butt

S. A.

Suran

Pappel

Smærup

Krimmer

Draheim

(2023). A digital collaborative platform for the silver economy: Functionalities required by stakeholders in a multinational Baltic sea region project. Digital Government: Research and Practice, 4(2), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1145/3592618

14.

Čaic

Odekerken-Schröder

Mahr

(2018). Service robots: Value co-creation and co-destruction in elderly care networks. Journal of Service Management, 29(2), 178–205. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-07-2017-0179

15.

Chand

Tung

R. L.

(2014). The aging of the world's population and its effects on global business. Academy of Management Perspectives, 28(4), 409–429. https://doi.org/10.5465/amp.2012.0070

16.

Colurcio

Vigolo

Edvardsson

(2022). Fifty years of research on silver economy: A bibliometric analysis. Sinergie, 40(3), 149–171. https;//doi, org/10.7433/s119

17.

Daskalopoulou

Keeling

Pritchard Jones

(2019). Understanding technology mediation and new service provider roles in health care. Journal of Services Marketing, 33(2), 245–254. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-11-2017-0368

18.

Dell'Acqua

McFowland

III ., Mollick

E. R.

Lifshitz-Assaf

Kellogg

Rajendran

Krayer

Candelon

Lakhani

K. R.

(2023). Navigating the jagged technological frontier: Field experimental evidence of the effects of AI on knowledge worker productivity and quality. Harvard Business School Technology & Operations Mgt. Unit Working Paper (Downloaded 28.08.2025 from https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4573321).

19.

de Saint Priest

Krings

(2024). The impact of diversity statements on age diversity: More than just window-dressing? Work, Aging and Retirement, 11(3), 213–229. https://doi.org/10.1093/workar/waae012

20.

De Vos

Van der Heijden

B. I. J. M.

Akkermans

(2020). Sustainable careers: Towards a conceptual model. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 117(March), 103196. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2018.06.011

21.

Di Bernardo

Ruggiero

Mele

(2022). Social network sites and ageing: Roles of Facebook to enhance seniors’ well-being. Sinergie Italian Journal of Management, 40(3), 83–103. https://doi.org/10.7433/s119.2022.04

22.

Dionigi

R. A.

(2015). Stereotypes of aging: Their effects on the health of older adults. Journal of Geriatrics, 2015, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1155/2015/954027

23.

Eisend

(2022). Older people in advertising. Journal of Advertising, 51(3), 308–322. https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2022.2027300

24.

European Commission. (2015). European summit on innovation for active and healthy aging, Final Report, Brussels, 9-10 March.

25.

European Commission. (2018). The silver economy: Final report. Publications Office of the European Union. https://doi.org/10.2759/685036

26.

Fazi

Zaniboni

Wang

(2025). Age differences in the adoption of technology at work: A review and recommendations for managerial practice. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 38(8), 138–175. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOCM-12-2024-0767

27.

Fisk

R. P.

Gallan

A. S.

Joubert

A. M.

Beekhuyzen

Cheung

Russell-Bennett

(2023). Healing the digital divide with digital inclusion: Enabling human capabilities. Journal of Service Research, 26(4), 542–559. https://doi.org/10.1177/10946705221140148

28.

Ford

J. D.

Ford

L. W.

(2009). Decoding resistance to change. Harvard Business Review, 87(4), 99–103.

29.

Freeman

Mills

Skaczkowski

Gunn

K. M.

(2025). Investigating the use of strengths-based approaches for health research in rural communities: A scoping review. Progress in Palliative Care, 33(4), 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/09699260.2025.2515660

30.

George

Baker

Tracey

Joshi

(2019). Inclusion and innovation: A call to action. In George

Brown

Tracey

Joshi

(Eds.), Handbook of inclusive innovation. The role of organizations, markets and communities in social innovation (pp. 2–22). Edward Elgar.

31.

Grougiou

Pettigrew

(2011). Senior customers’ service encounter preferences. Journal of Service Research, 14(4), 475–488. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094670511423785

32.

Heinonen

Kurtmollaiev

Lervik-Olsen

Mele

Streukens

Andreassen

(2025). Responsible aging: Integrating individual and intergenerational well-being. Journal of Service Management, 1–24, (forthcoming). https://doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-12-2024-0529

33.

Henkel

A. P.

Čaić

Blaurock

Okan

(2020). Robotic transformative service research: Deploying social robots for consumer well-being during COVID-19 and beyond. Journal of Service Management, 31(6), 1131–1148. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-05-2020-0145

34.

Jiang

Pan

Han

(2025). Age-inclusive digital responsibility: A new form of responsibility in the resonance of aging and digitalization. Business & Society. https://doi.org/10.1177/00076503251343124

35.

Kabadayi

Lee

Hanks

Walsman

Dobrzykowski

(2020). Fostering older adult care experiences to maximize well-being outcomes: A conceptual framework. Journal of Service Management, 31(5), 953–977. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-11-2019-0346

36.

Kanitz

Huy

Q. N.

Backmann

Hoegl

(2022). No change is an island: How interferences between change initiatives evoke inconsistencies that undermine implementation. Academy of Management Journal, 65(2), 683–710. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2019.0413

37.

Katiraee

Berti

Das

Zennaro

Aldrighetti

Dimovski

Peljhan

Dobbs

Glock

Pacheco

(2024). A new roadmap for an age-inclusive workforce management practice and an international policies comparison. Open Research Europe, 4(85), 1–32. https://doi.org/10.12688/openreseurope.17159.2

38.

Kautonen

Kibler

Minniti

(2017). Late-career entrepreneurship, income and quality of life. Journal of Business Venturing, 32(3), 318–333. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2017.02.005

39.

Klimczuk

(2016). Comparative analysis of national and regional models of the silver economy in the European Union. International Journal of Ageing and Later Life, 11, 1–29. https://doi.org/10.3384/ijal.1652-8670.15286

40.

Kooij

D. T. A. M.

Zacher

Wang

Heckhausen

(2020). Successful aging at work: A process model to guide future research and practice. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 13(3), 345–365. https://doi.org/10.1017/iop.2020.1

41.

Kotschy

Bloom

D. E.

Scott

A. J.

(2024). On the limits of chronological age. Annual Review of Economics, 17, 151–173. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-economics-080824-112429

42.

Kulik

C. T.

Ryan

Harper

George

(2014). Aging populations and management. Academy of Management Journal, 57(4), 929–935. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2014.4004

43.

Lui

C. W.

Everingham

J. A.

Warburton

Cuthill

Bartlett

(2009). What makes a community age-friendly: A review of international literature. Australasian Journal on Ageing, 28(3), 116–121. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-6612.2009.00355.x

44.

Maritz

Eager

de Klerk

(2021). Senior entrepreneurs as untapped potential. In Cooney

T. M.

(Ed.), The Palgrave handbook of minority entrepreneurship (pp. 179–193). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66603-3_9

45.

Marston

H. R.

Morgan

D. J.

Wilson-Menzfeld

Gates

Maddock

C. A.

Philips

Bailey

Nicholson

(2023). Employing citizen science to understand the contemporary needs of older adults accessing and using technology in a pandemic. In Routledge International handbook of participatory approaches in ageing research (pp. 390–401). Routledge.

46.

Matsuno

Kohlbacher

(2019). Firms’(non) responses: The role of ambivalence in the case of population aging in Japan. Long Range Planning, 52(2), 236–254. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2018.02.006

47.

McGuirk

Conway Lenihan

Lenihan

(2022). Awareness and potential of the silver economy for enterprises: A European regional level study. Small Enterprise Research, 29(1), 6–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/13215906.2021.1919915

48.

Mele

Russo-Spena

Marzullo

Ruggiero

(2022). Boundary work in value co-creation practices: The mediating role of cognitive assistants. Journal of Service Management, 33(2), 342–362. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-10-2020-0381

49.

Moyle

Parker

Bramble

(2014). Care of older adults: A strengths-based approach. Cambridge University Press.

50.

Murmann

Salmivaara

Kibler

(2023). How does late-career entrepreneurship relate to innovation? Research Policy, 52(6), 104763. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2023.104763

51.

OECD. (2025). OECD Employment Outlook 2025. Can we get through the demographic crunch? Downloaded 28.08.2025 from https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/2025/07/oecd-employment-outlook-2025_5345f034/full-report/component-7.html)

52.

O'Reilly

C. A.

III Tushman

M. L.

(2013). Organizational ambidexterity: Past, present, and future. Academy of Management Perspectives, 27(4), 324–338. https://doi.org/10.5465/amp.2013.0025

53.

Pasmore

W. A.

Fagans

M. R.

(1992). Participation, individual development, and organizational change: A review and synthesis. Journal of Management, 18(2), 375–397. https://doi.org/10.1177/014920639201800208

54.

Previtali

Keskinen

Niska

Nikander

(2020). Ageism in working life: A scoping review on discursive approaches. The Gerontologist, 62(2), e97–e111. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnaa119

55.

Rahman

M. H. A.

Finsterwalder

Kuppelwieser

V. G.

(2024). Ageing and wellbeing co-creation: Systematic literature review and future avenues for transformative service researchers. The Service Industries Journal, 4(July), 1–30. https://doi.org/10.1080/02642069.2024.2363934

56.

Rahn

Martiny

S. E.

Nikitin

(2020). Feeling out of place: Internalized age stereotypes are associated with older employees’ sense of belonging and social motivation. Work, Aging and Retirement, 7(1), 61–77. https://doi.org/10.1093/workar/waaa005

57.

Rogelj

Bogataj

(2019). Social infrastructure of Silver Economy: Literature review and research agenda. IFAC-PapersOnLine, 52(13), 2680–2685. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ifacol.2019.11.612

58.

Russell-Bennett

Kelly

Letheren

Chell

(2023). The 5R guidelines for a strengths-based approach to co-design with customers experiencing vulnerability. International Journal of Market Research, 65(2-3), 167–182. https://doi.org/10.1177/14707853231151605

59.

Schott

Rogoff

Herrington

Kew

(2017). GEM Special Report on Senior Entrepreneurship 2017. Global Entrepreneurship Research Association. https://gemconsortium.org/report/49823

60.

Snyder

Veflen

van Riel

Kristensson

Mehta

(2025). Beyond generations: An extended lifespan approach to service segmentation. Journal of Services Marketing, 39(9), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-08-2025-0539

61.

Stypińska

Franke

Myrczik

(2019). Senior entrepreneurship: The unrevealed driver for social innovation. Frontiers in Sociology, 4, 30. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2019.00030

62.

Van der Heijden

De Vos

Akkermans

Spurk

Semeijn

Van der Velde

Fugate

(2020). Sustainable careers across the lifespan: Moving the field forward. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 117, 103344. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2019.103344

63.

Vigolo

Davey

Colurcio

Holz

(2025). Generation-bridging experiences in third places: A call to action for transformative service scholars. Journal of Services Marketing, 39(9), (forthcoming).

64.

Wang

Zhou

Chen

(2024). Enhancing computer programming education with LLMs: a study on effective prompt engineering for Python code generation. arXiv [preprint] arXiv:2407.05437. https:// https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2407.05437

65.

Wilden

Lin

Hohberger

Randhawa

(2023). Selecting innovation projects: Do middle and senior managers differ when it comes to radical innovation? Journal of Management Studies, 60(7), 1720–1751. https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.12874

66.

World Health Organization (WHO). (2018). A global campaign to combat ageism. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 96(4), 299–300. https://doi.org/10.2471/BLT.17.202424

The Silver Economy: A Business Perspective on the Aging Society

Abstract

Keywords

Introduction

The Silver Economy: Opportunities for Business Innovation and Transformation

Transforming Workplaces

Guidepost 1: Promote Sustainable Careers, Not Late-Stage Fix

Guidepost 2: Label the Value, Not the Age

Guidepost 3: Support Senior Workers as Fast AI Adopters

Transforming Markets and Market Offerings

Guidepost 4: Reframe the Perspective of Aging as Capability and Value

Guidepost 5: Position Senior Adults as Active Co-Creators in Society

Guidepost 6: Strengthen Resilience and Autonomy Across the Aging Journey

Transforming Firms

Guidepost 7: Learn From the Silver Entrepreneurs

Guidepost 8: Involve Silver Employees in Participatory Transformation Processes

Guidepost 9: Connect With, Rather Than Compete With, Other Transformation Initiatives

Turning Silver Into Gold

Conclusion

Footnotes

ORCID iD

Funding

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

References