판매·서비스 영업직을 대상으로 한 ESG 인식과 소비행동 의향에 미치는 영향: ESG 경영 중요도 인식의 매개 효과 분석 = The Impact of ESG Awareness on Consumer Behavioral Intentions in Sales and Service Occupations: An Analysis of the Mediating Effect of Perceived Importance of ESG Management

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Awareness of ESG management is becoming an essential element for all employees. This is especially true for sales, service, and marketing professionals, who are at the forefront of direct customer interaction, making understanding and awareness of ESG management even more crucial. This study aims to analyze the impact of consumers' awareness of ESG management on their ESG-related consumption behavior intentions and empirically analyze whether the importance of environmental management, social contribution, and governance structure perceived by consumers has a mediating effect in this relationship. The data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics 29.0, a statistical analysis program. To understand the general characteristics of the study subjects, frequencies and percentages were calculated. Factor analysis was used to assess the validity of the scale, and Cronbach's α coefficients were calculated to assess reliability. Correlation analyses were also conducted between key variables. Multiple regression analysis was performed to examine the impact of ESG awareness on consumer behavior intentions. A mediation analysis was also conducted on corporate perceptions of ESG importance. First, consumers' ESG awareness level was found to have a statistically significant effect on their intention to consume environmental management, their intention to consume socially responsible, and their intention to consume governance. Second, as a result of analyzing whether the awareness of the importance of ESG management acts as a mediator in the relationship between ESG awareness and their intention to consume ESG, it was confirmed that the sub-concepts of the importance awareness, such as environmental production and distribution, environmental practice and ideology, and social contribution, local community, and worker satisfaction, had a statistically significant mediating effect. In addition, factors such as environmental production and distribution, environmental practice and ideology, and social contribution, local community, and worker satisfaction were found to have a positive (+) effect on their intention to consume socially responsible. Although the direct path was not statistically significant, the indirect path through the mediator was significant, confirming the existence of a full mediating effect. Lastly, environmental practices and ideology, and the concept of consumer protection were found to have a positive (+) effect on the intention to consume governance-related behavior. Similarly, the direct path was not significant, but the indirect path through the mediator was statistically significant, indicating a complete mediation effect. Sales and service occupations need to strengthen their awareness of the importance of ESG management to increase willingness to engage in ESG consumer behavior. This will enable them to deliver more persuasive ESG messages to consumers. ESG awareness and the perceived importance of ESG management are key factors influencing consumer behavior, and linking these concepts allows for more strategic consumer responses.