판매 사원의 행복이 탈진에 미치는 영향: 마음챙김과 정서지능의 매개역할 (The Influence of Sales Associate’s Happiness on Burnout: Mediating Roles of Mindfulness and Emotional Intelligence)

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 한국경영학회
· 수록지 정보 : 경영학연구 / 39권 / 3호 / 707 ~ 737페이지
· 저자명 : 서성무, 이지우

초록

본 연구는 판매 사원의 행복이 마음챙김과 정서지능을 매개로 해서 탈진에 미치는 영향을 살펴보았다. 긍정적 정서의 확장-형성이론을 근거로 연구모형을 설정하였다. 이 이론에 따르면 기쁨, 사랑, 감사와 같은 긍정적인 정서는 의식 활동의폭을 넓히고 이는 다시 심리적, 사회적, 육체적 자원의 증가로 이어져 일상생활 전 영역에 걸쳐 성과를 향상시키고 그 결과 현재 보다 더 높은 수준의 행복을 누릴 수 있게 해 준다. 한편 마음챙김은 신체 안팎에서 일어나는 경험을 비판단적으로 수용하고 주의를 집중해서 알아차림해 가고 있는 상황이나 성향을 뜻하는데 선행 연구에서 스트레스나 불안과 같은 부정적 심리상태를 개선시킬 수 있는 개인적 자산으로 밝혀졌다.
행복, 마음챙김, 정서지능, 탈진 사이의 관계에 대해 여섯 개의 가설이 설정되었으며, 판매 사원들을 대상으로 한 설문조사가 이루어졌다. 224명의 설문응답 자료를 공분산구조분석한 결과 정서지능이 탈진에 미치는 영향을 제외한 나머지 다섯 가지 가설은 모두 지지되었다. 즉 행복은 직접적으로 혹은 마음챙김을 통해서 탈진을 완화시키는 방향으로 영향을 미쳤다. 또 그 영향은 직접적인 경로보다 마음챙김을 통한 간접 경로에서 더 뚜렷하였다. 그리고 행복과 마음챙김은 정서지능에 긍정적 영향을 주는 것으로 밝혀졌다.
이 연구는 인간의 높은 잠재력을 가정하는 긍정심리학계의 성과를 활용하였다는 점에서 부정적 결함을 제거하는 것에 치중해 온 기존 경영학계의 관점과 대비된다. 또 이 연구를 통해 긍정적 정서를 더 자주 느끼고 마음챙김 수준을 높일 수있는 교육프로그램의 필요성을 지적할 수 있었다.

영어초록

Retail consumers expect to enjoy hedonic experiences such as a cozy store atmosphere and a pleasant social interaction with sales associates in addition to their functional shopping experience. Accordingly, sales associates are expected to engage in emotional labor, that is,to meet the expectations of customers regardless of their true mood at the moment of interacting with the customer. A sales associate experiences burnout when exposed to such a stressful situation especially without having supporting personal or social resources to fall back on. The primary causes of burnout are identified as the demands of customers and staff,and customer contact frequency.
This study examines whether a sales associate’s happiness ameliorates burnout. The research model consists of four variables: (1) happiness as the independent variable, (2)mindfulness and (3) emotional intelligences as mediating variables, and (4) burnout as the target dependent variable. Among the four variables, mindfulness has not yet been discussed in management literature, yet it has been largely investigated in psychology and medicine.
Mindfulness has been defined in various ways. Brown and Ryan (2003) define mindfulness as a receptive attention to and awareness of present events and experiences. Mindfulness is negatively related to numerous unhealthy conditions such as stress, anxiety, and depression.
On the other hand, mindfulness is positively related to physical and mental wellbeing as well as personal satisfaction with life.
The research model is based on the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions proposed by Fredrickson (1998). The theory maintains that positive emotions such as joy, contentment, and love broaden an individual’s cognitive and behavioral perspectives, which in turn build the individual’s social, psychological and physical resource that can enhance the individual’s achievements in every aspect of daily activities. In other words, the theory states that happiness brings success through increased personal resources. This view is strikingly in contrast with the pessimistic thoughts about happiness. Some have argued that happiness is genetically determined, while others have argued that happy people who becomes idle inevitably becomes unhappy.
This research paper proposes six hypotheses. The first and second hypotheses examine whether a sales associate’s happiness builds mindfulness and emotional intelligence. The third and fourth hypotheses examine the direct influences of mindfulness on emotional intelligence and burnout. The fifth hypothesis studies whether happiness directly ameliorates burnout. Lastly, the sixth hypothesis studies whether emotional intelligence negatively influences burnout. The research model as a whole investigates whether happiness influences burnout both directly and indirectly through mindfulness and emotional intelligence.
The research compiled and analyzed 224 survey responses from sales associates of six retail stores. From the analysis, five out of the six hypotheses were supported. However, the hypothesis concerning emotional intelligence and burnout was not supported. This finding is not surprising given that previous studies also showed inconsistencies in this matter. It seems that emotional intelligence loses its impact when mindfulness is introduced into the model. In sum, the results point out that a happy sales associate may increase mindfulness and emotional intelligence and decrease the possibilities of burnout. In that process,mindfulness turns out to be a very important mediating variable while emotional intelligence fails to show an impact. The managerial implication of the research results is that brick and mortar retail businesses should develop internal training programs aimed at increasing the happiness and mindfulness levels of sales associates.

참고자료

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