Author(s)

Dongjie Zhao ¹, Lei Tian ²

Affiliation(s)

¹ School of International Economics, University of International Relations, Beijing, China
² Data Research Center, China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, Beijing, China

Corresponding Author

Lei Tian

ABSTRACT

Drawing on Intergenerational Solidarity Theory, this paper systematically reviews literature on payment mechanisms for smart health and elderly care robots and arrives at three core conclusions. First, primary payers have shifted from elderly end users to adult offspring, among which daughters are the dominant paying group. Second, purchase intention is affected by the combined effects of functional perceived value, elderly digital literacy and multi-dimensional intergenerational solidarity. Third, diversified cost-sharing approaches can be developed via tiered pricing, targeted government subsidies and coordinated connections with long-term care insurance. At its root, the payment bottleneck is not only a matter of insufficient household income, but reflects structural misalignment in intergenerational care responsibility allocation: the elderly lack payment capability, while adult offspring have stable purchasing power and need multi-level incentives to turn potential purchase willingness into real consumption.

KEYWORDS

Smart health and elderly care robots; Purchase intention; Intergenerational solidarity; Digital consumption model

CITE THIS PAPER

Dongjie Zhao, Lei Tian. Coping with Payment Barriers of Elderly Care Robots: An Intergenerational Solidarity Perspective. Journal of Sociology and Ethnology (2026). Vol. 8, No. 2, 85-94. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.23977/jsoce.2026.080212.

REFERENCES

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