Exploring the effect of customers’ clothing and purchase behavior cues on employees’ positive affective displays: the social cognition perspective

本研究旨在從社會認知觀點探討顧客衣著線索與顧客購買行為線索對員工正向情緒表達之影響，以及探討員工知覺顧客社會地位與前期購買意願之中介效果。過去在員工正向情緒表達相關研究上，雖有探討顧客衣著線索與購買行為線索對員工正向情緒表達之影響，但並未深入探討其中之歷程，本研究認為認知心理學領域中之基模概念，可以解釋過去在情緒表達研究中，顧客外表與行為線索對第一線服務員工正向情緒表達影響關係的研究發現。 本研究以百貨公司化妝品專櫃之櫃員與其互動之顧客為研究對象，共觀察及記錄93筆交易互動，以實地場域之觀察法進行研究，研究結果發現，如同預期，顧客之衣著線索及購買行為線索對員工正向情緒表達皆有顯著的正向影響，顯示顧客若穿著愈高貴或是展現越多購買行為線索，員工會表現得越親切，研究結果驗證了過去情緒表達相關之研究發現；然而，員工知覺顧客社會地位與員工知覺顧客前期購買意願之中介效果並不如預期達顯著，顯示顧客衣著線索與購買行為線索並非透過激發員工對顧客社會地位與前期購買意願之基模影響員工正向情緒表達，而可能透過激發了別的基模來影響員工之正向情緒表達。整體而言，本研究所提之研究假說部分符合預期，而研究結果可對情緒表達與社會認知基模理論相關研究提供理論貢獻與實務意涵。According to social cognitive psychology, targets’ cues can arouse perceivers’ schemas, and then help perceivers to form an impression on the target person. This point of view can help explain the past related research on employee’s positive affective displays. According to the past researches’ research findings, customers’ clothing and behaviors have obvious effects on employees’ positive affective displays. Moreover, base on schema theory, customers’ clothing and purchase behavior cues are believed to arouse employees’ social status schema and pre-purchase intention schemas respectively, and make employees to have a perception on customers’ social status and pre-purchase intention, and therefore have different positive emotional expressions on different customers. Employees’ perception on customers’ social status and pre-purchase intention are believed to play mediator roles in those processes. This study examined the 93 face-to-face interactions between employees and customers in the department store cosmetics section. Results showed customers’ clothing and purchase behavior cues are positively related to employees’ positive affective displays, as predicted. In other words, the more dignity the customer dressed or the more purchase behaviors he/she displayed, the more positive affective displays the employee showed. However, the mediator roles of employees’ perceptions on customers’ social status and pre-purchase intention were not found in the research. Over all, part of hypothesizes are predicted. The results have both theoretical and practical contributions to emotional expression research and social cognitive research