소비자거래 역량과 디지털거래 역량이 청소년의 소비생활 만족도에 미치는 영향

초록

Over the course of three years since the onset of COVID-19 in 2020, consumption has shifted its focus from offline to online platform than before. Adolescents, who notably employ digital devices far more frequently than other age groups, are particularly adept at online transactions and also are emerging as a recent driving force in consumption trends. Based on this context, understanding the current level of competence of adolescents in digital transactions is crucial. Such an assessment could contribute to formulating policies aimed at fostering a satisfactory consumption lifestyle for adolescents. The present study examines the current state of adolescent consumers’ digital transaction competence, overall consumer transactional competence, the level of consumption satisfaction, and explores how these variables are associated with each other, using the 2022 adolescents’ consumption competence index data provided by the Korea Consumer Agency. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics analysis, regression, and analysis of variance, and the key findings are as follows. Firstly, the objective level of digital transaction knowledge among adolescents is currently insufficient, while their subjective assessment of their ability to execute digital transactions is relatively high. Secondly, both consumer transactional and digital transaction competences were significantly related to consumption satisfaction, and even after controlling for consumer transactional competence, digital transaction competence was found to be independently and significantly associated with consumption satisfaction. This finding highlights the importance of digital transaction competence in shaping consumers’ subjective well-being. Thirdly, digital transaction competence was found to consist of two subdimensions: digital transaction knowledge and digital transaction execution. Finally, digital transaction competence, overall consumer transactional competence, and consumption transaction were found to vary based on demographic factors, including gender, grade, and the size of the city where the participants reside. Specifically, digital transaction competence was relatively lower among female and middle school students compared to their male and high school counterparts. Similarly, consumer transactional competence was found to be relatively lower among participants residing in smaller cities than those in larger urban areas. These results suggest that younger female students are particularly susceptible in terms of digital transaction competence. Furthermore, considering consumer transactional competence, implementing consumer education programs appears crucial, especially for adolescents residing in smaller cities, as it could foster competence enhancement. The present results provide practical implications, highlighting the need for consumer education and policies specifically tailored to adolescents in order to enhance their overall consumer transactional competence.

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