뉴노멀시대에서 소비자 구매행동 변화에 따른 백화점 뷰티 어드바이저의 심리적 불안감과 고용 가능성에 관한 연구: 인지적 유연성의 매개효과를 중심으로
A Study on Psychological Anxiety and Employability in the Context of Department Store Beauty Advisors amidst Consumer Purchasing Behavior Change in the New Normal Era: Focusing on Mediating the Effect of Cognitive Flexibility
新常态下消费者购买行为变化背景下百货美容顾问的心理焦虑与就业能力研究：关注认知灵活性的中介效应
Article information
Abstract
목적
본 연구는 COVID-19 이후 뉴노멀시대에서 소비자 구매 행동의 변화와 이로 인한 백화점 뷰티어드바이저의 심리적 불안이 고용 가능성에 어떻게 영향을 미치는지를 조사하는 것이 목적으로, 이 관계에서 인지적 유연성의 매개 역할을 이해하고자 한다.
방법
이를 위해 2023년 6월 20일부터 7월 20일까지 백화점 뷰티 어드바이저 600명을 대상으로 설문 조사를 실시했으며, 555명의 데이터를 수집하였다. 연구의 타당성을 보장하기 위해 SPSS WIN 25.0을 사용하여 분석하였다.
결과
심리적 불안이 백화점 뷰티 어드바이저의 고용 가능성에 유의미한 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났으며 인지적 유연성이 매개 역할을 하여, 인지적 유연성이 높을수록 변화하는 소비자 행동의 부정적인 영향을 완화할 수 있음을 시사한다.
결론
본 연구는 백화점 뷰티 어드바이저의 인지적 유연성을 향상시키는 것이 뉴노멀 환경에 더 잘 적응하게 하여 고용 가능성을 높일 수 있음을 결론지었다. 화장품 기업은 이러한 통찰을 활용하여 직원의 인지적 유연성과 변화하는 소비자 행동에 대한 대응력을 향상시키는 전략을 개발함으로써 경쟁력을 유지하고 역동적인 시장에서 성장을 달성할 수 있을 것이다.
Trans Abstract
Purpose
The research aims to investigate how changes in customer purchasing behavior and the resulting psychological anxiety of beauty advisors affect their employability in the new normal era following COVID-19. Additionally, it seeks to understand the mediating role of cognitive flexibility in this relationship.
Methods
To accomplish this, a questionnaire survey was administered to 600 department store beauty advisors between June 20 and July 20, 2023, and data from 555 were collected. To ensure the validity of the study, a research model was tested, using SPSS WIN 25.0. This study investigated whether psychological anxiety and changes in consumers' purchasing behavior affected department store beauty advisors' employability and etc.
Results
The findings reveal that psychological anxiety significantly affect the employability of department store beauty advisors. Cognitive flexibility plays a mediating role, suggesting that higher cognitive flexibility can mitigate the negative impacts of changing consumer behaviors on employability.
Conclusion
The study concludes that enhancing cognitive flexibility among beauty advisors can help them better adapt to the new normal environment, thereby improving their employability. Cosmetic businesses can leverage these insights to develop strategies that enhance their employees' cognitive flexibility and responsiveness to changing consumer behaviors and etc.
Trans Abstract
目的
本研究旨在调查顾客购买行为的变化以及由此产生的美容顾问的心理焦虑如何影响他们在COVID-19后的新常态时代的就业能力。此外，它还试图了解认知灵活性在这种关系中的中介作用。
方法
为此，在2023年6月20日至7月20日期间对600名百货公司美容顾问进行了问卷调查，收集了555名的数据。为了保证研究的有效性，使用SPSS WIN 25.0对研究模型进行了测试。本研究调查心理焦虑和消费者购买行为的变化是否影响百货公司美容顾问的就业能力等。
结果
研究结果表明，心理焦虑显着影响百货公司美容顾问的就业能力。认知灵活性起着中介作用，这表明较高的认知灵活性可以减轻消费者行为变化对就业能力的负面影响。
结论
增强美容顾问的认知灵活性可以帮助他们更好地适应新常态环境，从而提高他们的就业能力。化妆品企业可以利用这些见解来制定策略，增强员工的认知灵活性和对不断变化的消费者行为的响应能力等。
Introduction
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused major changes in daily life worldwide, including restricted activities, remote work, online learning, and isolation measures (Gupto et al., 2023). Since the outbreak of the pandemic in South Korea and worldwide, merchandise trade and distribution, as well as overall consumer spending, have decreased. However, during that time, transaction volumes for credit and debit cards for online purchases have steadily increased. As online shopping is becoming increasingly popular, it is likely that distance shopping will continue to be a trend in the future (Lee et al., 2021a). According to a report by Statistics Korea comparing consumer interests in online sales before and after the pandemic, the size of the online shopping market has reached USD 10,761,915,450.80 as of August 2000 (Hwang & Lee, 2021). The increase in online consumption driven by the purchasing power of individuals in their 40s is reshaping consumption patterns in the online market, demonstrating that this phenomenon is emblematic of the era of the “new normal” in consumer behavior (Lee, 2021). During the COVID-19 pandemic situation, many researches have been conducted on consumer behavior analysis, logistics delivery services, workplace change chronic pain research methods, online and offline purchases, AI algorithms, and university student consumer research (Guthrie et al., 2021; Jiang et al., 2023, de Lucas et al., 2023; Margolies et al., 2021; Schneider & Zieke, 2020; Scott., 1962; Teodorescu et al., 2023).
Consumers’ psychology and behavior toward beauty have also become important since the spread of COVID-19. As contact with outsiders decreased, makeup awareness gradually reduced, and overall cosmetics consumption decreased due to this decrease (Lee et al., 2021b). Changes in the sales environment due to the pandemic have further intensified unreasonable customer demands. Sales workers like beauty advisors can achieve their sales goals by developing flexible alternative sales strategies to adapt to changing sales environments, rigid sales conditions, and diverse customer demands (Khan, 2021).
The best way to deal with the pandemic situation is reached to the whole populace, is to adopt a normal lifestyle in a newnormal way. The underlying fear and tensions in the social structure along with the human survival instincts set up the ‘new normal’ (Ghosh et al., 2022). In a dictionary sense, the ‘new normal’ means a new standard that emerges as time changes (Kyoung, 2021). We believe that previously validated consequences of crowding in the retail context need to be revisited in view of the ‘New Normal’ which has altered the behaviors of both retailers and their customers (Erogluet al., 2022).
The broader shifts in service businesses induced by the pandemic will require more contactless consumer experiences in the long term (Li & Huang, 2022). For these reasons, it is necessary to closely examine the relationship between capabilities, stress, and the mental health of department store beauty advisors in the new normal post-pandemic era.
1. Theoretical Background
1) The new normal
The term new normal can be defined as a situation where the nature and behavior of organizations and employees have changed in response to new health, social, and economic realities in a post-COVID-19 world. Furthermore, the new normal signifies fundamental changes in the operations and behaviors of each organization and its employees, stemming from the prolonged duration of the COVID-19 pandemic, lasting for over a year. The new normal represents a transitional phase that is characterized by diverse rates, scales, and intensities of changes occurring across organizations and nations. It also encompasses the process of recognizing and adapting to these changes. This represents a significant change from the previous model (Raghavan et al, 2021).
2) Beauty advisors
Article 14 of Chapter 1 of the Labor Standards Act stipulates that “worker refers to a person who provides work for wages to a business or workplace regardless of the type of job”. Workers in this paper refer to department store beauty advisors. And, amid recent changes in the distribution environment due to the demand for CS management and marketing concepts of department stores, flexible and effective sales activities of department store sales staff that meet customer characteristics and purchasing conditions are one of the main factors that can differentiate themselves from competitors, and eventually, effective management of sales staff for human sales will contribute significantly to the growth and profitability of department stores (Choi, 2008).
3) Cognitive flexibility
‘Cognitive flexibility’ is broadly defined as the mental ability to switch one’s thinking between two different concepts, depending on the context of the situation (Scott, 1962). Cognitive flexibility is one of the crucial factors influencing intelligence and creativity, enhancing an individual’s understanding and adaptation to various situations that prompt cognitive and behavioral changes when needed. Cognitive flexibility involves concrete abilities and mechanisms. This fosters fluency in generating ideas and dealing with intricate challenges (Chen et al., 2022). Cognitive flexibility is another executive component that is closely related to social skills, enabling the generation and utilization of various strategies for problem-solving. Furthermore, to resolve cognitive or emotional conflicts, various strategies can be employed, and solutions employed by others are understood (Romero-López et al., 2020).
2. Purpose of Research
By reviewing prior research (Ye et al., 2022; Hartmanna & Lussier, 2020; Kang, 2015), it becomes evident that there have been limitations in subjects studied for department beauty advisors in research related to psychological anxiety after the pandemic and changes in consumers purchasing behavior in the new normal era and job-related aspects. Furthermore, there has been a paucity of research on emotional laborers, such as beauty advisors in department stores. Therefore, this study aimed to comprehensively examine the perspective of department store cosmetics sales personnel as representative emotional laborers known to provide high-touch services to customers. In particular, this study aimed to analyze correlations between contemporary environmental change factors and cognitive flexibility, and to propose practical applications in the cosmetics Brick & Mortar industry. Cognitive flexibility can be harnessed as the capacity for department beauty advisors to utilize their cognitive abilities to address and adapt to unforeseen circumstances, such as an unexpected pandemic situation like a pandemic, resulting in new in-store conditions (Kyoung, 2021). This study aimed to comprehensively examine whether objective indicators of social anxiety and changes in consumer purchasing behavior among department store beauty advisors might have a significant impact on employability in the postpandemic new normal era, referred to as the ‘With Coronaera’ (Huang & Lee, 2022). In addition, we determined whether, in the pandemic situation, cognitive flexibility could mediate the relationship between psychological anxiety and changes in consumer purchasing behavior. This study aimed to examine the interactions between these objective indicators, explore their relationships, and ultimately provide basic data for the management of human resources of department store beauty advisors.
Methods
1. Selection and acquisition of data
This study conducted an online survey from June 2023 to July 2023, targeting 600 adults aged 20 years or more who worked at Estee Lauder group cosmetic counters in 50 department stores in Korea. The survey was conducted using the online survey tool, SurveyMonkey (https://ko.surveymonkey.com), which has been in use worldwide since 2021.
Those who voluntarily consented to participate in this research with the ability to read and understand survey questions were selected. A total of 579 responses were collected; of them, 555 were finally analyzed.
2. Types of statistical analysis
For data analysis, the collected data was subjected to data coding and data cleaning processes. All statistical analyses were conducted using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) WIN 25.0 (SPSS Inc., USA).
First, to assess the characteristics of study participants and their job-related features, a frequency analysis was conducted. Second, factor analysis and reliability analysis were performed to explore the dimensions of key variables. Principal component analysis was used to extract a small number of factors that described as much of the variance of original variables as possible. Third, descriptive statistics were conducted to examine the mean and standard deviation of the main variables. Fourth, Pearson’s correlation analysis was conducted to examine the relationships between main variables. Fifth, multiple regression analysis was conducted to examine the impact of psychological anxiety and change in consumer purchasing behavior on cognitive flexibility. Multiple regression analysis was also used to investigate the effects of psychological anxiety, changes in customer purchasing behavior, and cognitive flexibility on employability. Sixth, to investigate the mediating effect of cognitive flexibility on relationships among psychological anxiety, change in consumer purchasing behavior, and employability, a three-step hierarchical regression analysis was conducted following the approach described by Baron & Kenny (1986). Sobel Test was run for an accurate test. This study was validated at significance levels of p<0.05.
3. Measures
Demographic information: Demographic variables in the present study included age, gender, education, marital status, residential area, average weekly working hours, total working experience, position, and salary.
The validation and reliability assessment of the psychological anxiety scale was measured with 21 questions (Kim et al., 2021) modified for department store beauty advisors. The validity and reliability of the psychological anxiety scale for measuring the psychological anxiety of department store beauty advisors. There were no items that undermined the validity or reliability. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted to assess the scale’s appropriateness, and to confirm whether it adhered to the normality of the population. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure yielded a value of 0.937, confirming the validity of the scale. The approximate chi-square value for Bartlett’s sphericity test was 9820.147 (p<0.001), indicating that factor analysis using this survey instrument was appropriate. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was employed as a factor extraction method, and the Varimax rotation method was used for factor rotation. The total variance explained by three factors was approximately 68.114%. This suggests that the survey instrument is composed of valid sub-factors. To validate the reliability, Cronbach’s α value was calculated. These values exceeded the threshold of 0.6, indicating very high internal consistency among the items for each factor. This suggests that the measuring tool is reliable.
Validation and reliability assessment of customer purchasing behavior change scale: The scale for employability was measured with 10 questions (Lee & Lee, 2003; Jung, 2005) and an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted. The results of examining the normality of the population and the adequacy of the scale, the KMO measure, yielded a value of 0.915, thus establishing its validity. The approximate chi-square value for Bartlett’s sphericity test was 3,798.773 (p<0.001), indicating that factor analysis using this survey instrument was appropriate. Principal Component Analysis was employed as the factor extraction method, and the Varimax rotation method was used for factor rotation. The total variance explained by a single factor was approximately 60.520%. Given that the eigenvalue of this factor was 6.052, it appeared that this research instrument was composed of valid sub-factors, each contributing to approximately 60.520% of the explained variance. The Cronbach’s α value calculated for the reliability testing was 0.925, which exceeded the threshold of 0.6, indicating very high internal consistency among questions.
Validation and reliability assessment of the employability scale: The scale for employability was measured with 5 questions (Kang, 2015) modified for department store beauty advisors. There were no items that compromised validity or reliability. Upon examining the results of EFA to confirm the normality of the population and the validity of the scale, the KMO measure was found to be 0.858, demonstrating the validity. Bartlett’s sphericity test also yielded an approximate chi-square value of 1,599.502 (p<0.001), indicating that factor analysis was appropriate for this survey instrument. The total variance explained by a single factor was approximately 70.098%. Given that the eigenvalue of this factor was 3.505, it appeared that this research instrument was composed of valid sub-factors, each contributing to approximately 70.098% of the explained variance.
Validation and reliability assessment of the cognitive flexibility scale: The scale for employability was measured with 16 questions (Heo, 2011) and an EFA was conducted. Upon examining the results to confirm the normality of the population and the validity of the scale, the KMO measure was found to be 0.966, demonstrating the validity. Bartlett’s sphericity test yielded an approximate chi-square value of 6,630.790 (p<0.001), indicating that factor analysis was appropriate for this survey instrument. The factor extraction model employed PCA. The factor rotation method used was Varimax rotation. The total variance explained by a single factor was approximately 61.532%. Given that the eigenvalue of this factor was 9.845, it appeared that this research instrument was composed of valid sub-factors, each contributing to approximately 61.532% of the explained variance. The Cronbach’s α value calculated for reliability testing was 0.958, which exceeded the threshold of 0.6, indicating very high internal consistency among questions. In addition, this value of Cronbach close to ‘1’ indicates the high reliability of the data.
4. Hypothesis
Psychological anxiety and changes in customer purchasing behavior in the new normal era are likely to negatively affect the employability of department store beauty advisors. Cognitive flexibility is expected to play a mediating role in the relationship between department store beauty advisors’ psychological anxiety in the new normal era, change in customer purchasing behavior, and their employability, so this study develops the following hypothesis:
H 1: In the new normal era, the psychological anxiety of department store beauty advisors is expected to have a negative impact on their employability.
H 2: In the new normal era, consumer purchasing behavior change is expected to have a negative impact on the employability of department store beauty advisors.
H 3: Cognitive flexibility is likely to have a positive impact on department store beauty advisors employability.
H 4: In the new normal era, the psychological anxiety of department store beauty advisors is likely to have a negative impact on their cognitive flexibility.
H 5: In the new normal era, consumer purchasing behavior change is likely to have a negative impact on their cognitive flexibility.
H 6: Cognitive flexibility will mediate the relationship between changes in consumer purchasing behavior, psychological anxiety, and employability
Results and Discussions
1. Analysis of research subjects and job characteristics
The frequency analysis results were conducted to examine the characteristics of the research subjects. In terms of age, there were 217 (39.1%) individuals in their 20s, 258 (46.5%) individuals in their 30s, and 80 (14.4%) individuals aged 40 years or older. Regarding gender, there were significantly more females with 529 (95.3%) individuals than males (n=26, 4.7%).
The results of the frequency analysis of the work characteristics of the study subjects are as follows. For the field of sales, those who worked in makeup sales accounted for the highest at 37.8%, followed by those working in hair care sales (148 individuals, 26.7%), skincare sales (126 individuals, 22.7%), and Fragrance & Body Care sale (71 individuals, 12.8%). Regarding department stores, Lotte had 200 individuals (36.0%), followed by Hyundai with 162 individuals (29.2%), Shinsegae with 123 individuals (22.2%), Galleria with 28 individuals (25.0%), and Other Department Stores with 42 individuals (7.6%).
2. Correlation among main variables with ‘Psychological anxiety, Change in consumer purchasing behavior, Employability, Cognitive flexibility’
Table 1 shows the results of Pearson’s correlation to examine the correlations between the main variables of this study. First, psychological anxiety (r=-0.354, p<0.01), and change in consumer purchasing behavior (r=-0.198, p<0.01) had significant and negative (-) correlations with employability; however, cognitive flexibility significantly and positively (+) correlated with employability (r=0.447, p<0.01).
Pearson’s analysis to examine the correlations between the main variables of this study
3. Verification of research hypotheses with mediation analysis, multiple regression analysis, Sobel test
Table 2 shows the results of a multiple regression analysis to examine the effects of independent variables, such as psychological anxiety, change in consumer purchasing behavior, and cognitive flexibility (the mediating variable), on employability (the dependent variable). Sub-factors of anxiety, change in consumer purchasing behavior, and cognitive flexibility as independent variables explained 22.1% (R2=0.221) of the variation in employability as the dependent variable. The model was found to be appropriate (F=53,391, p<0.001). In addition, the Durbin-Watson statistic was 1.875, a value close to 2, indicating no problem with the independence assumption. The Variance Inflation Factor (VIF) was less than 10, indicating no multi-collinearity problem. Looking at predictors of employability, psychological anxiety (t=-3.068, p<0.01) showed significance. Cognitive flexibility significantly and positively affected employability (t=9.411, p<0.001). Employability was high when the level of psychological anxiety was low, and when cognitive flexibility was high. As a result, hypotheses H1 and H3 were adopted in the effects of psychological anxiety and cognitive flexibility on employability.
The multiple regression analysis to examine the effects of independent variables, such as psychological anxiety, change in consumer purchasing behavior, and cognitive flexibility on employability
Table 3 shows the results of multiple regression analysis for the effects of independent variables, such as psychological anxiety and change in consumer purchasing behavior, on cognitive flexibility, the mediating variable. The final model included psychological anxiety and change in consumer purchasing behavior as independent variables, and cognitive flexibility as the dependent variable. The variation explained by the final model was 14.5% (R2=0.145). The model was appropriate (F=47.809, p<0.001). In addition, the Durbin-Watson statistic was 1.706, close to 2, indicating no problem with the independence assumption. The Variance Inflation Factor (VIF) was less than 10, indicating no serious multicollinearity problem. Psychological anxiety (t=-8.368, p<0.001) is an important predictor of cognitive flexibility. As psychological anxiety increased, cognitive flexibility decreased. However, changes in consumer purchasing behavior did not have a significant effect on the relationship with cognitive flexibility. As a result, only hypothesis H4 was adopted and H5 was not adopted for the effects of psychological anxiety and changes in consumer purchasing behavior on cognitive flexibility.
The multiple regression analysis for the effects of independent variables, such as psychological anxiety and change in consumer purchasing behavior on cognitive flexibility, the mediating variable
This study conducted a three-stage mediation regression analysis (Baron & Kenny, 1986) to examine the mediating effect of cognitive flexibility in the relationship between psychological anxiety (the independent variables) and employability. In addition, the Sobel Test was performed to verify the exact mediation effect. Table 4 shows the results of the mediation analysis to examine the mediating effect of cognitive flexibility in the relationship between psychological anxiety (the independent variable) and employability (the dependent variable). In the first stage, the association between psychological anxiety (the independent variable) and cognitive flexibility (the mediating variable) was significant (t=-9.598, p<0.001). In the second stage, psychological anxiety had a significant relationship with employability (t=-7.447, p<0.001). In the third stage, psychological anxiety decreased from β=-0.302 in the second stage to β=-0.155 in the third stage; however, the significance level remained unchanged. The mediating variable, cognitive flexibility (t=9.558, p<0.001), was significantly connected to employability. Therefore, cognitive flexibility partially mediated the relationship between psychological anxiety and employability. Table 5 shows that the significance of the mediating effect was confirmed in the Sobel Test. This can be seen as proving that cognitive flexibility is an important factor as the job competency of customer contact employees, as in previous studies (Lee & Lee, 2021).
The mediation analysis to examine the mediating effect of cognitive flexibility in the relationship between psychological anxiety and employability
The significance of the mediating effect of cognitive flexibility in the relationship between psychological anxiety and employability in the Sobel test
Table 6 shows the results of a mediation analysis to examine the mediating effect of cognitive flexibility (the mediating variable) in the relationship between the change in consumer purchasing behavior (an independent variable) and employability (the dependent variable). In the first stage, the relationship between the change in consumer purchasing behaviors and cognitive flexibility was significant (t=-4.770, p<0.001). In the second stage, the change in customer purchasing behavior was significantly related to employability (t=-4.755, p<0.001). In the third stage, the perceived change in consumer purchasing behavior, which had a significant relationship with employability in the second stage, decreased from β=-0.198 in the second stage to β=-0.114 in the third stage. In the third stage, the change in consumer purchasing behavior was still significant. The mediating variable, cognitive flexibility, was significantly and positively coupled with employability (t=10.999, p<0.001). Therefore, cognitive flexibility partially mediated the relationship between the change in consumer purchasing behavior and employability changes. Table 7 show that the significance of the mediating effect was confirmed in the Sobel test.
The mediation analysis to examine the mediating effect of cognitive flexibility in the relationship between the change in consumer purchasing behavior and employability
The significance of the mediating effect of cognitive flexibility in the relationship between the change in consumer purchasing behavior and employability in the Sobel test
Conclusions
The core purpose of this study was to explore the effects of psychological anxiety and consumer purchasing behavior change on the employability of department store beauty advisors, and the mediating effect of cognitive flexibility. This is expected to enhance understanding of how department store beauty advisor roles and capabilities are required in a new consumption environment, and contribute to establishing appropriate strategies for companies and industry officials.
In this study, psychological anxiety was found to have the following effects. It has a significant impact on the employability of department store beauty advisors. In addition, although changes in consumer behavior do not affect cognitive flexibility, cognitive flexibility plays a mediating role between changes in consumer behavior and employability. This suggests that higher cognitive flexibility can mitigate the negative impact of changing consumer behavior on employability.
Several limitations should be noted to better understand our study. First, it should be considered that the application of this study only targeted cosmetics counters located in large department stores in Korea. Expanding the application to all retail cosmetics stores might not be appropriate. Considering the characteristics of diversified retail cosmetics stores, it is expected to be different from the department store beauty advisor’s work situation presented in this study. Second, there are few prior studies on beauty advisors in department stores. Therefore, more research is needed due to the lack of research that can be referenced. Finally, this study examined the impact of post-pandemic psychological anxiety and change in consumer purchasing behavior on the employability of department store beauty advisors, and whether cognitive flexibility played a mediating role in this relationship. Future research should examine the impact of department store beauty advisors on their job and organizational commitment in various environments using various methods such as training programs to improve the cognitive flexibility of department store beauty advisors.
Notes
This work is going to be part of the Su Mi Park’s Ph.D. thesis at the Dongguk University, Seoul, Korea.
Author's contribution
SMP and HRH contributed to this work. SMP and HRH deeply considered paper contents. SMP collected all SPSS data, and contributed to all aspects of analysis and experimental design. SMP wrote the manuscript with HRH.
Author details
Su Mi Park (Ph.D. Candidate), Department of Beauty Arts Care, Dongguk University, 30, Pildong-ro 1-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul 04620, Korea; Hye Ree Han (Lecturer), Department of Beauty Arts Care, Dongguk University, 30, Pildong-ro 1-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul 04620, Korea.