The Elderly Sense of Gain in Community Elderly Care Services: A Grounded Theory Analysis

High‐quality community elderly care services are widely expected as global aging has become a significant demographic shift. The elderly sense of gain has the potential to reflect the actual needs of the elderly and thus improve service quality. However, it lacks deep theoretical exploration based on emerging cases. Based on grounded‐theory analysis of five communities in City Q, China, the elderly sense of gain unfolds within each service cycle through three temporally linked dimensions: initial, actual and future sense of gain, while future sense of gain may shape service acceptance in the next cycle. Diminishing marginal effects, digital loneliness and negative spillovers may erode actual sense of gain, impede the formation of future sense of gain and reduce subsequent service acceptance. Conceptualizing sense of gain as a dynamic user‐level evaluative process clarifies how publicly enabled benefits are anticipated, experienced and prospectively assessed, and why objective service provision does not automatically become subjectively recognized value. Attention is thereby shifted from service volume to the conditions under which public provision generates and sustains value for older adults.