A Study of the Effects of Individual Competenceson Job Satisfaction and Job Performance: For those working in the beauty service industry

Abstract

Because the beauty service industry is highly dependent on human resources, human resources management for workers playing a pivotal role is required. The importance of individual competencies in the process of workers’ performing their tasks could be understood through prior studies. The workers in the beauty service industry have their professional characteristics, so the industry requires a strong professional consciousness, and individual competences are regarded as affecting job performance. This study aimed to identify the effects on beauty service industry workers’ job satisfaction and performance with their individual competencies, namely skills, knowledge, and attitude variables based on prior studies. As a result of an empirical analysis targeting the workers in the beauty service industry, as individual competences, including skills, knowledge, and attitude, were higher, job satisfaction was higher. Also, as job satisfaction was higher, job performance was higher. All this is analyzed as follows: The beauty service industry is an individual-customized servicecentered industry with high interactions with customers through small number of human resources in view of the industry workers’ job characteristics. Consequently, if they continuously obtain knowledge required for their job so that they can have attachment to and a sense of achievement for the job, set achievable goals, make efforts to achieve them, do their utmost efforts for the job they like, and endeavor for self-development, job performance can be achieved beyond their capabilities. As individual competences are consolidated, if satisfaction with job performance increases, the workers will be faithful to their job performance, and they will achieve job performance by creating new skills (techniques) beyond their capabilities. To develop the workers’ potential capabilities furthermore, it is necessary to lay the foundation for them to continuously develop individual capabilities and receive training fitting individual characteristics. Through this empirical study, the study results are expected to offer implications for the beauty service industry development.