Qualitative Research on Korean Baby-Boomer Generation Middle-Aged Women's Attitude Toward Their Lives - Based on Middle-Class Seoul Residents -

한국의 베이비부머세대 중년여성이 삶에서 추구하는 가치에 대한 질적연구 - 서울 거주 중산층을 중심으로 -

A lot of interest in the baby-boomer generation, those who were born after World War II, has emerged since their retirement has been accelerated. The retirement of baby-boomers has caused many health, public welfare, social policy and family relationship problems. However, their increased purchasing power has made them more attractive consumers than any other generation, and they have become a fascinating niche market in the depressed economy. This research selected middle-class women of the baby-boomer generation who have had powerful effects on society and have emerged as an attractive niche market, and attempted to understand their lives intensively. Based on research activities, the purpose of this research is to identify baby-boomer generation middle-aged women's life values. Qualitative research methodology was used to achieve research objectives, and this research aimed to suggest marketing implications to connected industries based on the research results. The research objectives are as follows. 1. understanding the lives of baby-boomer middle-class women who have powerful effects on socio-economic phenomena 2. identifying the life values of baby-boomer middle-class women 3. generating marketing implications based on an understanding of baby-boomer middle-class women's lives and life values This research conducted FGIs(focus group interviews), one of the qualitative research methodologies, to figure out baby-boomer middle-class women's life values intensively and selected 10 women living in Seoul for data collection. The qualitative data of collected FGIs were analyzed with spiral data analysis methodology proposed by Creswell(2007). The most effective factors to influence these middle-class women's lives powerfully were 'time' and 'independence'. Their consciousness of the importance of using time affects their life pattern generally, and their independence also impacts greatly on the way they exploit time and on their diverse relationships. They maximized their self-realization and showed long-term partnership with their surrounding circumstances because of those effective factors. Baby-boomer middle-class women's self-realization was divided into two areas. One was their outside activities and another was perfect management of their physical appearance and home interior. Like the results of this research, their need for social entrance will be reinforced more strongly since their internal and external activities aim for the achievement of self-realization. In addition, this research suggests that baby-boomer middle-class women's activities are connected with their management of their physical appearance and home interior decorations, and that such management is caused not only by a simple interest in fashion and beauty but also a profound desire for self-realization. On account of their consciousness, which is different from other generations, Korean baby-boomer middle-class women are able to maintain positive partnerships with their surrounding circumstances; however, they also show ambivalent emotions to retain effective partnerships. To overcome those stressful situations, they make greater efforts to keep up their health and youth, and also engage in diverse activities to maintain their mental health. Finally, they generate positive attitudes toward their economic situation and extra time to develop self-realization and pursue happy, youthful and healthy lives. Based on those results, this study suggests the following implications. First, industries targeting the baby-boomer generation should develop innovative products and services which help the baby-boomer generation maximize their efficiency of time since time is one of the most important factors powerfully impacting the baby-boomer generation. They will engage in various activities to fill up their extra time and consume helpful products and services. Second, such industries should supply the baby-boomer generation with opportunities which propose new ways of self-realization since this generation shows a great desire for self-realization because of their self-efficacy. With customized strategies of satisfying their needs, the baby-boomer generation would discover opportunities to utilize their abilities, relationships and aesthetic senses, and industries would develop a niche market. Third, market segmentations which target the baby-boomer generation's desire to maintain their physical appearance and home interior should be executed since such activities are the main strategies to develop this generation's self-realization. The baby-boomer generation's desire to study those areas would be expanded, and those education systems should produce innovative products and services targeting the baby-boomer generation. This implication also offers to government officials new policies related with the baby-boomer generation. This exploratory study utilized qualitative research methodology to understand baby-boomer middle-class women's lives, and proposed propositions and limitations for further researches. As for the limitations, first, it is hard to generalize the research results so that they may apply to all areas and economic classes of the baby-boomer generation since this research selected only 10 women living in Seoul for the data collection process. To overcome this limitation, extended data collections of subjects from diverse regions and economic classes should be designed. Second, quantitative research should be conducted to supplement the findings with validities. Third, this research focused on only general ideas of the baby-boomer generation's lives since the range of this study was focused on their overall lives. Therefore, intensive research related to specific areas of their lives should be conducted.

본 연구에서는 가족 내 높은 의사결정권을 가진 베이비부머세대 중년여성을 연구대상으로 선정하여 이 소비자에 대한 이해를 높이기 위해 이들이 삶에서 추구하는 가치를 질적연구방법을 통해 알아보았다. 그 결과, 시간, 관계, 젊음과 건강, 자아실현, 의식의 총 5개의 핵심가치를 도출했다. 상위범주들의 맥락적 관계를 구축하여 모형을 도출한 결과, 베이비부머세대 중년여성은 시간적 여유의 증가와 이전/이후세대와는 다른 의식을 인과적 조건으로 하여 자아실현과 타인과의 관계맺기 현상을 나타내며 이 과정에서 스트레스를 받고 있었다. 이들은 이와 같은 현상을 대처하기 위해 건강과 젊음을 위해 다양한 노력을 취하고 있었으며, 이를 통해 최종적으로 시간적 여유가 있고 경제적으로 크게 고통 받지 않는 현재의 삶에 감사하고 있다는 결론을 도출하였다. 모형을 보다 추상적인 중심현상으로 축약화하여 베이비부머세대 중년여성의 삶에 대한 이야기를 구성하였으며, 이를 통해 베이비부머 중년여성이 여러 가지 활동과 노력을 통해 추구하고자 하는 것은 '건강하고 젊고 행복한 삶'이라는 결론을 내렸다. 본 연구를 통해 도출된 실무적 시사점은 다음과 같다. 첫째, 베이비부머세대 중년여성의 삶에 가장 큰 영향을 미치는 시간을 잘 활용하도록 도와주는 상품, 서비스가 필요하다. 둘째, 자아실현 욕구가 높은 베이비부머세대 중년여성이 자아효능감을 느낄 수 있도록 이들의 감각, 능력, 인맥을 활용할 수 있는 기회를 제공해야 한다. 셋째, 이들의 집안과 외모 가꾸기는 자아실현의 방법이므로 이 시장에 대한 세분화가 필요하다. 질적인 방법으로 진행된 본 연구의 한계점을 보완하기 위해서는 다양한 지역과 소득계층을 포함하는 후속연구가 진행되어야 한다. 그리고 이상의 결과를 확인하고 보완하는 차원의 양적연구가 후속으로 진행되어야할 것이며, 이들 삶의 한 부분을 집중적으로 조명하여 더욱 깊이 있는 결과를 도출하는 후속연구가 필요하다.