research paper about call center agents

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Inbound call centers and emotional dissonance in the job demands – resources model.

• Work and Organizational Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy

Background: Emotional labor, defined as the process of regulating feelings and expressions as part of the work role, is a major characteristic in call centers. In particular, interacting with customers, agents are required to show certain emotions that are considered acceptable by the organization, even though these emotions may be different from their true feelings. This kind of experience is defined as emotional dissonance and represents a feature of the job especially for call center inbound activities.

Aim: The present study was aimed at investigating whether emotional dissonance mediates the relationship between job demands (workload and customer verbal aggression) and job resources (supervisor support, colleague support, and job autonomy) on the one hand, and, on the other, affective discomfort, using the job demands-resources model as a framework. The study also observed differences between two different types of inbound activities: customer assistance service (CA) and information service.

Method: The study involved agents of an Italian Telecommunication Company, 352 of whom worked in the CA and 179 in the information service. The hypothesized model was tested across the two groups through multi-group structural equation modeling.

Results: Analyses showed that CA agents experience greater customer verbal aggression and emotional dissonance than information service agents. Results also showed, only for the CA group, a full mediation of emotional dissonance between workload and affective discomfort, and a partial mediation of customer verbal aggression and job autonomy, and affective discomfort.

Conclusion: This study’s findings contributed both to the emotional labor literature, investigating the mediational role of emotional dissonance in the job demands-resources model, and to call center literature, considering differences between two specific kinds of inbound activities. Suggestions for organizations and practitioners emerged in order to identify practical implications useful both to support employees in coping with emotional labor and to promote well-being in inbound call centers. In detail, results showed the need to improve training programs in order to enhance employees’ emotion regulation skills, and to introduce human resource practices aimed at clarifying emotional requirements of the job.

Introduction

Call center organizations have rapidly increased in the last few decades, attracting considerable attention from different fields including Work and Organizational Psychology ( Lewig and Dollard, 2003 ; De Cuyper et al., 2014 ). The working conditions that can affect call center agents performance and well-being have received particular attention, owing to their influence on organizational success in terms of profit, customer satisfaction and lower costs of absenteeism and turnover ( Das, 2012 ; Rod and Ashill, 2013 ; De Cuyper et al., 2014 ). During the last few years, call center operations management has become more focused on staff empowerment and less on a traditional production-line orientation ( Gilmore, 2001 ).

Literature highlighted that call center agents often suffer from burnout and emotional exhaustion ( Ashill and Rod, 2011 ; Choi et al., 2012 ), and reported emotional dissonance (the discrepancy between expressed and felt emotions, Zapf et al., 1999 ) as the principal strain phenomenon in call center work ( Zapf et al., 1999 ; Holman et al., 2002 ; Grebner et al., 2003 ; Holman, 2003 ; Lewig and Dollard, 2003 ; Zapf et al., 2003 ; Grandey et al., 2004 ; Ghislieri et al., 2012 ; Emanuel et al., 2014b ). Indeed, in this kind of work there are strong requirements to suppress negative emotions, caused by unfriendly or angry customers, but also by repetitive job activities, cognitive demands, increased time pressure, workload, decreased autonomy and performance monitoring ( Holman, 2003 ; Grandey et al., 2004 ; Wegge et al., 2006a ; Andela et al., 2015 ).

The present study investigated the role of emotional dissonance within the job demands-resources (JD-R) model ( Bakker et al., 2003 ; Bakker and Demerouti, 2007 , 2014 ) in a sample of call center agents. In particular, the aim of the study was to explore how two job demands (workload and customer verbal aggression) and three job resources (supervisor support, colleague support and job autonomy), typical of the call center context, are related to affective discomfort, a well-being dimension ( Warr, 1990 ), and whether these relationships are mediated by emotional dissonance.

Call Center Work

Today, many different kinds of companies, in the developed information economies, use call centers as a core way to produce and deliver to the public and customers information services ( Russell, 2008 ). Call centers can be defined as work environments where service agents interact with customers primarily over the phone, or via other communication channels, with the support of computer systems ( Van Jaarsveld and Poster, 2013 ). Since their appearance in the early 1990s, call centers have become an important part of the business world, serving as primary a customer-facing channel for companies with decreased costs of both information technologies and non-specialized personnel, and expectations of high service quality ( Grebner et al., 2003 ; Aksin et al., 2007 ).

Call centers are generally characterized by structural divisions of labor and extensive use of technology designed to both maximize efficiency and limit worker autonomy and control (task control, timing control and participation) ( Knights and McCabe, 1998 ; Isic et al., 1999 ; Callaghan and Thompson, 2001 ). Moreover, there is low complexity and low variability, because the activity consists of routine interactions with customers, controlled mostly by automatic call distribution systems ( Holman, 2003 ). Finally, performance monitoring is a pervasive practice in most call centers, where electronic systems supervise agents controlling quantitative indicators (numbers and length of calls, type of calls taken). Furthermore, the quality of conversations (content, style, adherence to policies) is assessed by recording them and/or listening to them ( Holman et al., 2002 ; Aksin et al., 2007 ; Moradi et al., 2014 ).

For these reasons, call center work is demanding, repetitive and often stressful, which can lead to high levels of turnover and absenteeism, and the inability to meet quantitative targets ( Taylor and Bain, 1999 ; Lewig and Dollard, 2003 ; Workman and Bommer, 2004 ).

Among the different types of call center activities, previous studies identified that inbound and outbound call center agents perceive stress differently ( Zapf et al., 2003 ; Wegge et al., 2006b ; Lewin and Sager, 2007 ; Lin et al., 2010 ; Rod and Ashill, 2013 ). Inbound work is generally focused on helping customers who contact the call center agent, whereas the primary activities of the outbound agent are selling and providing telemarketing with the support of standardized scripts ( Lewin and Sager, 2007 ; Rod and Ashill, 2013 ). Therefore, inbound call center agents often have to deal with complaints, inquiries and verbal aggression from customers, experiencing greater emotional labor ( Aksin et al., 2007 ; Rod and Ashill, 2013 ). They are asked to be more customer-oriented and to show abilities such as remaining calm, actively listening, being patient and empathic ( Lloyd and Payne, 2009 ). Moreover, inbound work typically relates to more complex and varied calls than outbound work ( Rod and Ashill, 2013 ).

This study focused on inbound call center work and investigated the differences between two specific kinds of inbound activities, contributing to literature that generally considers only inbound/outbound differences. The first activity considered was the customer assistance service (CA) and consisted in receiving calls from customers who needed to solve some specific technical problems and/or make a complaint; the second was the information service (INFO), aimed at providing phone numbers that customers required.

Emotional Labor

According to Hochschild (1983) , emotional labor can be defined as the process of regulating feelings and expressions as part of the work role ( Grandey, 2000 ). Emotions play an important function in the relationship between employees and customers: companies and managers highlight the importance of this relationship and employees are encouraged formally (or informally) by their organizations to display emotions that conform to certain organizational norms or standards ( Zapf et al., 1999 ; Zapf and Holz, 2006 ). Thus, expressing appropriate emotions during face-to-face or voice-to-voice interactions has become a job demand for many employees, who are not only required to complete their tasks, but also to conform with specific display rules defined by the corporate culture of an organization ( Hochschild, 1983 ; Grandey, 2000 ; Schaubroeck and Jones, 2000 ; Diefendorff and Richard, 2003 ). Customer service employees are typically encouraged to display a cheerful, friendly manner and behavior while interacting with clients and to express certain emotions ( Heuven and Bakker, 2003 ; Bakker and Heuven, 2006 ; Humphrey et al., 2015 ): for example, cabin attendants are expected to display courtesy, police officers firmness, nurses compassion, call center agents willingness.

Therefore, service occupations are considered emotionally demanding for the workers because they must also express certain emotions that may not be felt or may even be opposed to those internally perceived in the situation. Emotional dissonance arises when employees’ expressed emotions are considered acceptable by the organization, but do not represent the true feelings of the individual ( Rafaeli and Sutton, 1987 ; Zapf, 2002 ; Hülsheger and Schewe, 2011 ; Grandey and Gabriel, 2015 ).

In call center work, even though there is no direct face-to-face contact with customers, there are typically strong demands to be friendly with them ( Zapf et al., 2003 ), as type of customer service activities. Moreover, the performance of agents is often monitored by the organization (e.g., test calls or recording calls) and nonconformities from emotional norms can be easily detected ( Holman, 2003 ). In many cases, customers call with problems and call center agents frequently interact with difficult and aggressive people during the workday ( Deery et al., 2002 ; Totterdell and Holman, 2003 ; Grandey et al., 2004 ). In particular, customer verbal aggression is descripted as customers’ intentions to damage employees intentionally through words, voice and tone or demeanor such as bad language, shouting and sarcasm ( Harris and Reynolds, 2003 ; Dormann and Zapf, 2004 ; Grandey et al., 2004 ). Several studies show that this can undermine employee compliance to regulate emotions: employees, who feel mistreated by customers in both laboratory and field research, seem to force themselves to manage their emotions ( Grandey et al., 2004 ; Rupp and Spencer, 2006 ; Rohrmann et al., 2011 ).

Hochschild (1983) was the first scholar to describe the possible negative consequences of emotional labor, for both individuals and organizations. Emotional labor may have potential positive consequences such as the facilitation of interpersonal encounters with customers, task effectiveness, increased service quality or higher income for service providers ( Grandey and Gabriel, 2015 ). However, several scholars have clarified that the regulation of emotions may be especially stressful and detrimental to health: consistent relations have been found between emotional dissonance and burnout complaints across different human service professions ( Hülsheger and Schewe, 2011 ; Kammeyer-Mueller et al., 2013 ; Kenworthy et al., 2014 ). Emotional dissonance can have negative consequences for employees. Some scholars underline a positive association with psychological strain, emotional exhaustion, psychosomatic complaints, work-family conflict and lower job satisfaction (e.g., Zapf et al., 1999 , 2001 ; Schaubroeck and Jones, 2000 ; Zapf, 2002 ; Grebner et al., 2003 ; Heuven and Bakker, 2003 ; Totterdell and Holman, 2003 ; Wilk and Moynihan, 2005 ; Cheung and Cheung, 2013 ; Kenworthy et al., 2014 ; Scheibe et al., 2015 ).

Referring to customer relations, Dormann and Zapf (2004) found in three samples of service workers that verbal customer aggression is a strong stressor that is positively correlated with burnout and emotional dissonance. Verbally aggressive customers are a source of strain in the work of call center agents (e.g., Grandey et al., 2004 ) and the customers’ verbal aggressiveness is an antecedent of emotional dissonance ( Wegge et al., 2010 ). In fact, aggressive customers express and, in turn, foster in agents emotions that employees cannot show according to common emotional rules in call centers ( Grandey et al., 2002 ; Grandey et al., 2004 ). Therefore, studies in different service jobs found detrimental effects of negative customer behavior on service providers’ well-being (e.g., Dormann and Zapf, 2004 ; Rupp and Spencer, 2006 ; Wegge et al., 2007 ; Wang et al., 2011 ; Molino et al., 2015 ).

In this study, a difference was expected between the two types of inbound call center activities in both customer verbal aggression and emotional dissonance. In the CA service, agents have to solve specific and complex technical problems that customers meet with, whereas INFO service agents provide phone numbers that customers require. Customers who call the CA service could be particularly angry and aggressive because of the waste of time and the disappointment about the product or service. Therefore, the first study hypothesis was:

Hypothesis 1: (a) CA service agents perceive higher levels of customer verbal aggression than INFO service agents, and (b) CA service agents perceive higher levels of emotional dissonance than INFO service agents.

JD-R Model and Emotional Dissonance in Call Centers

The JD-R theory ( Bakker and Demerouti, 2014 ) refers to a heuristic model able to specify how two different sets of working conditions may produce both health impairment and motivation ( Bakker and Demerouti, 2007 ). Flexibility of the model permits the theory to be applied to all work environments and occupations, identifying specific job demands and job resources. “Job demands refer to those physical, psychological, social, or organizational aspects of the job that require sustained physical and/or psychological (cognitive and emotional) effort or skills and are therefore associated with certain physiological and/or psychological costs” ( Bakker and Demerouti, 2007 , p. 312). Job demands are not negative by definition; they become job stressors when meeting those demands requires high effort from which the person cannot adequately recover ( Meijman and Mulder, 1998 ). This study considered two job demands that were identified in call center work. The first one is workload, a general demand investigated in many studies that used the JD-R model ( Bakker and Demerouti, 2007 ; Schaufeli and Taris, 2014 ); it represents the amount of tasks and activities agents have to manage quickly, handling calls as fast as possible ( Wegge et al., 2007 ). The second one is verbal aggression from unfriendly, rude and/or unsatisfied customers, shown through shouting at service agents and using negative verbal expressions ( Dormann and Zapf, 2004 ; Grandey et al., 2004 ); customer verbal aggression is a specific demand in inbound call center work.

Job resources represent the second set of job characteristics and “refer to those physical, psychological, social, or organizational aspects of the job that are either/or: functional in achieving work goals; reduce job demands and the associated physiological and psychological costs; stimulate personal growth, learning, and development” ( Bakker and Demerouti, 2007 , p. 312). Job resources considered in this study were general resources explored in the JD-R model ( Bakker and Demerouti, 2007 ; Schaufeli and Taris, 2014 ): supervisor support, which indicated the existence of positive and supportive relations between supervisors and agents ( Garcia and Archer, 2012 ; Jansen and Callaghan, 2014 ); colleague support, which refers to the presence of a collaborative environment among call center agents ( Aksin et al., 2007 ; Garcia et al., 2014 ); job autonomy, which represents the degree of control over one’s own tasks and behavior at work ( Morris and Feldman, 1996 ).

High levels of job-related stressors and a lack of job resources may negatively affect employees’ well-being ( Demerouti et al., 2001 ). This study examined their relationship with affective discomfort, which refers to the intensity of emotions experienced at work: specifically, high levels of negative emotions are associated with low levels of well-being ( Warr, 1990 ; Van Katwyk et al., 2000 ; Quaglino et al., 2010 ; Biggio and Cortese, 2013 ; Emanuel et al., 2014a ).

Moreover, the study examined the mediational role of emotional dissonance in the JD-R model. Several studies have focused on emotional dissonance as mediator in the relationship between job characteristics and employees’ well-being ( Bakker and Heuven, 2006 ; Cheung and Tang, 2007 ; Karatepe and Choubtarash, 2014 ; Andela et al., 2015 ), but few of them referred to call center work. For example, Cheung and Tang (2010) , in their study among Chinese call center and retail-shop employees, showed that work characteristics, as manifested by perceived display rules, perceived performance monitoring and perceived service culture, positively influenced strain only through emotional dissonance. Lewig and Dollard (2003) , in a study conducted on inbound and outbound call center agents, found that emotional dissonance fully mediated the relationship between emotional demands, expressed by the requirement to display positive emotions, and emotional exhaustion. Our study explored the role of job demands, job resources and emotional dissonance in relation to affective discomfort, a well-being dimension ( Warr, 1990 ); this is important and useful for literature and organizations because our theoretical model was tested in an ever-growing occupational sector in Italy, in which a great many people are employed ( Istat, 2014 1 ). Furthermore, few studies about call center work in our country have investigated these aspects and the differences among different inbound activities.

The present study considers emotional dissonance as a mediator between job demands and job resources on the one hand, and affective discomfort on the other one. With regard to job demands (workload and customer verbal aggression), they may generate negative emotions that agents cannot show, increasing the experience of emotional dissonance ( Hülsheger and Schewe, 2011 ; Kenworthy et al., 2014 ; Andela et al., 2015 ).

Among job resources, supervisor and colleague support may play an important role since they foster a positive working environment in which it is easier for employees to feel positive emotions ( Totterdell and Holman, 2003 ). In customer service work, where the expression of positive emotions is expected, less emotional labor is necessary if the interpersonal relationships are positive and supportive, and positive emotions are genuinely felt ( Grandey, 2000 ). Moreover, support and opportunities to learn from each other may provide agents with those tools and indications helpful to deal with difficult working situations ( Moradi et al., 2014 ), decreasing the likelihood to feel negative emotions. For these reasons, supervisor and colleague support might have a negative relationship with the experience of emotional dissonance.

As for job autonomy, scholars showed that this resource is negatively related to emotional dissonance ( Morris and Feldman, 1996 ). Having autonomy means that agents have more chances to decide how to handle customer calls by thus adapting their answers and behavior to the specificities of both the situation and the customer. In this way, they have more control over the situation, decreasing the likelihood to feel unpleasant emotions that cannot be expressed and, in turn, emotional dissonance perceived.

In conclusion, the aim of the study was to investigate a conceptual model in which two job demands (workload and customer verbal aggression) and three job resources (supervisor support, colleague support and job autonomy) were directly and indirectly, through the mediation of emotional dissonance, related to affective discomfort in inbound call center work. More specifically, the hypotheses were (see Figure 1 ):

FIGURE 1. The theoretical model.

Hypothesis 2: (a) job demands are positively associated with affective discomfort, and (b) job resources are negatively associated with affective discomfort.

Hypothesis 3: (a) job demands are positively associated with emotional dissonance, and (b) job resources are negatively associated with emotional dissonance.

Hypothesis 4: emotional dissonance is positively related to affective discomfort, thus playing a mediating role between job demands and resources on the one hand, and affective discomfort on the other.

Since different categories of tasks can generate different emotional and psychological dynamics, and thus different management challenges ( Wallace et al., 2000 ; Jansen and Callaghan, 2014 ), the hypotheses were tested across the two types of inbound call center activities: the first was the CA service, where customers receive support for specific requests regarding technical problems; the second was the INFO service, which provides customers with phone numbers they need.

Materials and Methods

Ethical statement.

The study was conducted in line with the Helsinki Declaration ( World Medical Association, 2001 ), as well as the data protection regulation of Italy. The research project was shared with the trade unions and approved by the Company Board of Directors. Since there was no medical treatment or other procedures that could cause psychological or social discomfort to participants, additional ethical approval was not required. An agreement between the Company and Turin University’s Department of Psychology was signed in order to ensure anonymity and confidentiality in collecting, analyzing and publishing data. Participation in the research was voluntary, without receiving any reward.

Samples and Procedures

The study was carried out among a national sample of call center agents from an important Italian Telecommunication Company, which provides different ICT services with branches located throughout the country. The aim of the study was explained by sending an e-mail from management and a communication published in the intranet magazine. Anonymity, confidentiality of the data and the voluntary nature of participation in the study were emphasized. A total of 531 call center agents (41.36% of employees involved) filled out the on-line self-report questionnaire.

Participants were from two different kinds of call center activities: 352 of them (66%) worked in the CA, and 179 (34%) worked in the INFO, all of whom worked with an open-ended contract.

The CA sample included 183 females (52%) and 169 males (48%). Their average age was 43.67 years ( SD = 6.42; min = 25; max = 59). Mean organizational tenure was 19.57 years ( SD = 7.00; min = 0; max = 37). Most of the participants (63%) worked on a full-time basis. A high percentage of participants (79%) were high school graduates.

The INFO sample included 118 females (66%) and 61 males (34%). Their average age was 38.07 years ( SD = 7.06; min = 24; max = 56). Mean organizational tenure was 13.81 years ( SD = 6.95; min = 2; max = 34). Most of the participants (87%) worked on a full-time basis. A high percentage of participants (83%) were high school graduates.

Affective discomfort was assessed with six items of scale Warr’s, (1990 ). All items were scored on a 6-point scale, ranging from 1 = never to 6 = all of the time . Respondents were asked, thinking of the preceding few weeks, how much of the time their job had made them feel, e.g., “depressed” or “gloomy” . Cronbach’s alpha for the scale in this study was 0.88.

Emotional dissonance was assessed with 4 items developed by Zapf et al. (1999) . All items were scored on a 6-point scale, ranging from 1 = never to 6 = always . Respondents were asked, e.g., how often during their work, they had to “Display emotions which do not correspond to inner feelings” . Cronbach’s alpha was 0.90.

Workload was assessed with six items developed by Karasek and Theorell (1990) . All items were scored on a 4-point scale, ranging from 1 = disagree to 4 = agree . An example item is: “ My job requires working very fast ”. Cronbach’s alpha was 0.82. Customer verbal aggression was assessed with 4 items by Dormann and Zapf (2004) . All items were scored on a 6-point scale, ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 6 = strongly agree . An example item is “Customers personally attack us verbally” . Cronbach’s alpha was 0.89.

Supervisor support was assessed with 4 items developed by Caplan et al. (1975) . All items were scored on a 6-point scale, ranging from 1 = disagree to 4 = agree . An example item is “How much was your supervisor willing to listen to your personal problems?” . Cronbach’s alpha was 0.93. Colleague support was assessed with four items ( Caplan et al., 1975 ). All items were scored on a 6-point scale, ranging from 1 = disagree to 4 = agree . An example item is “How much was your colleague willing to listen to your personal problems?” . Cronbach’s alpha was 0.91. Job autonomy was assessed with seven items developed by Karasek and Theorell (1990) . All items were scored on a 4-point scale, ranging from 1 = none to 4 = a lot . An example item is “I can determine the way in which I work” . Cronbach’s alpha was 0.86.

Data Analysis

First, descriptive data analysis was carried out in each sample separately (CA and INFO), using the statistics software SPSS 22. Pearson correlations were used to examine the interrelationships between variables. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was calculated to test the reliability of each scale. Differences in the means of some variables between the two call center services considered were examined by using the analysis of variance ( t -test for independent samples).

The multi-group structural equation model (SEM) was performed using Mplus 7 ( Muthén and Muthén, 1998–2012 ) in order to assess differences across both samples in the hypothesized model. By running a multi-group model simultaneously for the CA service and INFO service, we tested whether path coefficients differed across the two groups.

The method of estimation was maximum likelihood (ML). According to the literature ( Bollen and Long, 1993 ), the model was assessed by several goodness-of-fit criteria: the χ 2 goodness-of-fit statistic; the Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA); the Comparative Fit Index (CFI); the Tucker Lewis Index (TLI); and the Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR). Non-significant values of χ 2 indicate that the hypothesized model fits the data. Values of RMSEA smaller than 0.05 indicate a good fit, values smaller than 0.08 indicate an acceptable fit and values greater than 1 should lead to model rejection. CFI and TLI values greater than 0.95 indicate a good fit. The SRMR has a range from 0 to 1, with a cut-off criterion of 0.08, with higher values indicating poorer fit to the empirical data, and values lower than 0.05 indicating an excellent fit. Finally, bootstrapping was used to test the significance of the mediation hypotheses. The procedure extracted, from the original sample, 2,000 bootstrap samples of the same size as the original one and calculated all direct and indirect parameters of the model ( Shrout and Bolger, 2002 ). When the confidence interval does not include zero it means that there is a significant mediation. The bootstrapping was preferred to other procedures since it was considered a powerful test and was suggested as the best option to test mediation and indirect effects ( Shrout and Bolger, 2002 ).

Table 1 shows the means, standard deviations, correlations among the study variables and internal consistency of each scale, separately for CA and INFO samples. All α values meet the criterion of 0.70 ( Nunnally and Bernstein, 1994 ) as they ranged between 0.82 and 0.94.

TABLE 1. Item means, item standard deviation, Cronbach’s alphas, and correlations among the study variables for CA ( n = 352) and INFO ( n = 179).

All the significant correlations between the variables were in the expected directions. Affective discomfort was positively correlated with job demands (workload and customer verbal aggression) and negatively associated with two job resources (supervisor support and job autonomy), across samples. In both samples, affective discomfort was positively associated with customer verbal aggression (CA: r = 0.25, p < 0.01; INFO: r = 0.39, p < 0.01) and workload (CA: r = 0.22, p < 0.01; INFO: r = 0.28, p < 0.01), negatively associated with job autonomy (CA: r = -0.35, p < 0.01; INFO: r = -0.28, p < 0.01) and supervisor support (CA: r = -0.29, p < 0.01; INFO: r = -0.32, p < 0.01). Only in the CA sample, affective discomfort was positively associated with colleague support (CA: r = -0.14, p < 0.01). Emotional dissonance related positively to affective discomfort across both samples but with a stronger relationship in the CA one (CA: r = 0.42, p < 0.01; INFO: r = 0.21, p < 0.01). Furthermore, emotional dissonance was positively associated with job demands, and negatively associated with job autonomy, across samples. Among job demands, workload (CA: r = 0.41, p < 0.01; INFO: r = 0.28, p < 0.01) and customer verbal aggression (CA: r = 0.31, p < 0.01; INFO: r = 0.39, p < 0.01) showed a significant positive correlation with emotional dissonance, in both samples. Among the other job resources, job autonomy (CA: r = -0.37, p < 0.01; INFO: r = -0.25, p < 0.01) showed a significant negative correlation with emotional dissonance, in both samples; supervisor support showed a significant negative correlation with emotional dissonance only in the CA sample (CA: r = -0.16, p < 0.01) and colleague support was not correlated with emotional dissonance in both samples.

Hypothesis 1a stated that the CA sample perceived higher levels of customer verbal aggression than the INFO sample. Analysis of variance between the two samples showed a difference in the customer verbal aggression: individuals working in the CA call center perceived more customer verbal aggression ( M = 4.23, SD = 1.20) than individuals working in the INFO call center ( M = 3.63, SD = 1.36) [ t (321) = 4.99, p < 0.01]. Hypothesis 1b stated that the CA sample perceived higher levels of emotional dissonance than INFO sample. Individuals working in the CA call center experienced more emotional dissonance ( M = 3.94, SD = 1.33) than individuals working in the INFO call center ( M = 3.58, SD = 1.35) [ t (529) = 2.94, p < 0.01]. Hypothesis 1 was therefore fully confirmed. Furthermore, possible differences in the affective discomfort were investigated: no differences between the CA and INFO samples were found for the mean levels of affective discomfort.

The multi-group SEM of the hypothesized model (Figure 1 ) was first evaluated by constraining all the path coefficients to be equal across the two groups. Subsequently, the model was re-tested relaxing the constraints that significantly increased the fit if they were estimated freely across the two groups, consistent with the theory ( Bollen, 1989 ). The final model fitted to the data well: χ 2 (9, N CA = 352, N INFO = 179) = 10.51, p = 0.31, CFI = 0.99, TLI = 0.99, RMSEA = 0.03 (90% CI 0.00, 0.08), SRMR = 0.02. A significant chi-square difference between the two models suggested this final model fitted the data better than the fully constrained model, Δχ 2 (2) = 6.49; p < 0.05 ( Satorra and Bentler, 1999 ).

Figure 2 shows standardized parameters derived from the re-specified model. In this model, the differences in standardized parameter estimates of the constrained paths between the groups reflected group specific differences in variances of variables. Hypothesis 2a stated that job demands are positively associated with affective discomfort. Customer verbal aggression showed a significantly stronger positive relationship with affective discomfort in the INFO sample than the CA sample. Workload did not show a direct relationship with affective discomfort in both samples. With regard to job demands, Hypothesis 2a was partially confirmed. Hypothesis 2b stated that job resources were negatively associated with affective discomfort. Supervisor support and, with a weaker loading, job autonomy, were negatively related to affective discomfort, across the two groups. Colleague support did not show direct relationships with affective discomfort across the two samples. With regard to job resources, Hypothesis 2b was partially confirmed. Hypothesis 3a stated that job demands were positively associated with emotional dissonance. Workload and customer verbal aggression showed significant positive relationships with emotional dissonance, across the two samples: Hypothesis 3a was fully confirmed. Hypothesis 3b stated that job demands were negatively associated with emotional dissonance. Among job resources, only job autonomy had a significant negative relationship with emotional dissonance, in both samples, supervisor support and colleague support did not show significant relationships with emotional dissonance. With regard to job resources, Hypothesis 3b was partially confirmed.

FIGURE 2. The final model (standardized path coefficients, p < 0.05). Results of the multi-group analysis: CA (INFO). Coefficients with asterisk are significantly different. Discontinuous lines indicate non-significant relationships.

Hypothesis 4 stated that emotional dissonance was positively related to affective discomfort, playing a meditational role between job demands and resources on the one hand, and affective discomfort on the other. Emotional dissonance showed a significant positive relationship with affective discomfort only in the CA sample. The mediating paths in the CA sample were evaluated using a bootstrapping procedure, Table 2 presents these results and shows that all the mediated effects, in the CA sample, were statistically significant. Particularly, the bootstrapping procedure confirmed that in the CA sample, emotional dissonance fully mediated the relationship between workload and affective discomfort. Moreover, emotional dissonance was a partial mediator between customer verbal aggression and affective discomfort, and between job autonomy and affective discomfort. In the INFO sample, emotional dissonance did not show a mediational role and, therefore, the bootstrapping procedure was not applied. Therefore, Hypothesis 4 was confirmed only in the CA sample. Variance of dependent variables explained by the models was 25% for affective discomfort and 24% for emotional dissonance in the CA sample; 23% for affective discomfort and 22% for emotional dissonance in the INFO sample.

TABLE 2. Significant indirect effects using bootstrapping (N CA = 352).

This study examined the role of emotional dissonance in the JD-R model, investigating whether it mediated the relationship between job demands and resources, and affective discomfort, referring to the Italian call center context. As such, the study contributed to the emotional labor literature, focusing on specific antecedents of emotional dissonance and confirming its mediational role. The study also addressed a gap in the call center literature, as it was one of the first that considered differences between two specific kinds of inbound services, despite many that studies focused mainly on inbound/outbound differences ( Lin et al., 2010 ; Rod and Ashill, 2013 ).

Among the job demands considered, customer verbal aggression showed a direct positive relationship with both emotional dissonance and affective discomfort. As for workload, the relationship with affective discomfort was fully mediated by emotional dissonance. These results confirmed that not only aggression from customers, which generated negative emotions the agent cannot display, was an antecedent of emotional dissonance ( Hülsheger and Schewe, 2011 ), but also the amount and pressure of work could generate negative feelings, which employees cannot express during the job. Managing these opposite emotional experiences might be more difficult when there is a high level of requests and tasks to do. Therefore, in this context, workload was a demand strongly associated with emotional dissonance and, indirectly through the mediation of emotional dissonance, to affective discomfort.

Regarding job resources, supervisor support and job autonomy had a direct negative relationship with affective discomfort in both call center activities, confirming previous studies that demonstrated that a supportive climate, and having autonomy in the job, contributed to employees well-being ( Grandey, 2000 ; Emanuel et al., 2014a ). Moreover, the study confirmed a negative relationship between job autonomy and emotional dissonance ( Morris and Feldman, 1996 ). Particularly, results confirmed that employees who perceived more autonomy in the job were able to deal better with emotional dissonance, likely because of greater discretion in choosing how to manage calls with customers and how to deal with difficult situations, preventing negative reactions from the customers and bad feelings. Colleague support did not show any of the expected relationships with emotional dissonance or with affective discomfort. In the two call center contexts, despite colleagues being perceived as supportive, the activities were typically carried out at individual level ( Moradi et al., 2014 ). Moreover, the opportunities to interact with each other and give advices might not have been sufficient and adequate to work as factors able to protect agents from experiencing affective discomfort and helping in dealing with emotional dissonance. Similarly, regarding supervisors, results indicated that their support was not functional to decrease the experience of emotional dissonance.

Finally, the study tested the meditational role of emotional dissonance among job demands and job resources and affective discomfort. First, emotional dissonance was related to affective discomfort only in the case of the CA sample, where agents had to provide technical and specific customer service. In this sample, it fully mediated the relationship between workload and affective discomfort, and partially mediated the relationship between customer verbal aggression and job autonomy on the one hand, and affective discomfort on the other. Call center inbound services aimed at providing support, as in the CA one, were characterized by more aggressive behavior from customers, who are generally angry, frustrated or unsatisfied, and vent their discontent on agents ( Dormann and Zapf, 2004 ; Grandey et al., 2004 ). Moreover, the activity was particularly difficult and problematic, and requests were rarely predictable ( Rod and Ashill, 2013 ). The specific features of this kind of job might increase the possibility to experience emotions that could not be shown. Consequently, agents in this service perceived more emotional dissonance ( Lewig and Dollard, 2003 ; Zapf et al., 2003 ). In the case of the INFO sample, emotional dissonance did not have a mediational role between job demands and job resources, and affective discomfort. In fact, emotional dissonance was not related to affective discomfort. The analysis of variance showed that in the INFO service, agents perceived less emotional dissonance, compared with colleagues in the CA service. INFO service agents provided phone numbers that customers required and were less exposed to customer verbal aggression. Therefore, starting from these features of work, emotional dissonance in INFO services seemed to be a less critical variable, which did not relate to affective discomfort.

Limitations and Future Studies

The present study used a cross-sectional research design that did not permit establishing causality relations between variables ( Podsakoff et al., 2012 ). Further studies should examine the longitudinal effects of emotional dissonance on negative outcomes, such as burnout and exhaustion, thus supporting our hypotheses even more. Additionally, future research will benefit from adding physiological measures of occupational stress ( Quaglino et al., 2010 ) and well-being, such as blood pressure and heart rate ( Ilies et al., 2010 ), and other objective organizational measures, such as the absenteeism rate.

A second limitation is the exclusive use of self-reported questionnaires that can potentially contaminate results, because observed relationships may be artificially inflated because of the respondents’ tendency to answer in a consistent manner. Nevertheless, self-reported data seemed to be the most appropriate approach in our study as it evaluated workers’ subjective perceptions of job demands, job resources, emotional dissonance and affective discomfort.

Another limitation was that data was collected from one organization only, which restricted the generalization of our findings. However, it is important to note that participants were employees from two different call centers of the same organization, with different kinds of inbound activities. Results from a relatively heterogeneous sample of employees supported previous findings that showed that emotional labor and emotional dissonance at work applied to a wide array of occupational contexts ( Kenworthy et al., 2014 ). Replication of the current findings in future studies conducted in various (service and non-service) organizations is essential and important.

Finally, in our study, supervisor support and colleague support did not show the expected relationships with the other variables, although theory and research underlined that social support was a relevant job resource for well-being in emotionally laden jobs ( Grandey, 2000 ; Totterdell and Holman, 2003 ). Future studies should consider social support as a possible moderator variable ( Grandey, 2000 ; Grandey and Gabriel, 2015 ) in order to verify its buffer effect in these dynamics.

Conclusion and Practical Implications

The results of the current study contribute to the existing literature on emotional labor and affective discomfort in service occupations, especially in call center work. Useful implications for both researchers and practitioners emerged, in order to understand better which job demands and job resources, typical for call center work, were more related to well-being and discomfort at work. In addition, the study, which dealt with two inbound services, allowed us to identify not only common implications for two kind of activities but also different implications based on their distinctive features ( Wallace et al., 2000 ; Jansen and Callaghan, 2014 ).

First, the results were important to understand better the role of job demands and job resources, typical for this occupation. In line with previous studies, the possibilities to promote well-being in these call center services (CA and INFO services) were, for example, improving the control and autonomy of agents ( Zapf, 2002 ; Johnson and Spector, 2007 ) or promoting a positive and supportive work climate ( Garcia and Archer, 2012 ; Jansen and Callaghan, 2014 ), and reducing or redistributing the workload ( Wegge et al., 2006b ).

An important practical path for organizations and management to take would be the development of training programs to enhance employees’ emotion regulation skills in order to cope with customer mistreatment ( Grandey et al., 2004 ; Groth, 2005 ; Rupp et al., 2008 ) and to improve emotion regulation strategies. However, generally, training in organizations has not been directly applied to emotional labor, and training is often invested only for managers and leaders, not service workers. Results suggest that it is important to develop training programs for all service workers, as well as call center agents. Training could help employees to understand the negative consequences of emotional labor and to identify what kind of strategy is useful to cope with daily demands, in particular for CA service agents that receive calls from customers who need to solve technical problems and/or make a complaint. In fact, enhancing emotional competency could help CA service workers to handle their emotional work better, reduce stress and increase the level of well-being ( Giardini and Frese, 2006 ; Gabriel et al., 2016 ; Zito et al., 2016 ), as shown in nursing employment ( McQueen, 2004 ). Moreover, recent studies underlined the importance to improve emotional intelligence ( Boyatzis et al., 2002 ; Gabriel et al., 2016 ), emotional self-efficacy ( Pugh et al., 2011 ), and peer-rated emotional competence ( Giardini and Frese, 2006 ) through training programs, to help employees effectively engage in emotional labor. In fact, several scholars showed that emotional competency could reduce emotional demands and sustain well-being at work ( Pugh et al., 2011 ; Gabriel et al., 2016 ). In this organizational context, training programs about emotional competency could be useful and beneficial for the two inbound services considered in this study (CA and INFO services).

Another practical path for call center companies would be to enhance the presence of human resource practices for emotional labor, which can increase commitment to emotional goals ( Gosserand and Diefendorff, 2005 ; Diefendorff and Croyle, 2008 ; Gabriel et al., 2016 ). Companies could also engage training programs for supervisors in order to recognize and support the effort required by emotional labor to call center agents. In fact, it would be important to create an employee-supportive (rather than managerial-controlling) climate ( Bono et al., 2007 ; Nishii et al., 2008 ). Training programs for supervisors would be particularly useful for the CA service in order to sustain call center agents that perceive more emotional dissonance and customer verbal aggression. Some studies also found that management tactics, such as monitoring and reward, did not make emotional labor more controlled and distressing ( Hochschild, 1983 ). Performance monitoring in call centers did not increase emotional labor and strain if the perceived purpose of monitoring was supportive ( Holman et al., 2002 ), and financial incentives enhanced satisfaction from emotional labor ( Grandey et al., 2013 ). Moreover, socialization could also be used to increase identification with organization goals, which would buffer strain from emotional labor ( Schaubroeck and Jones, 2000 ; Grandey and Gabriel, 2015 ). Moreover, mentors who provide vocational and psychosocial support and serve as role models, could help ground staff members to manage their emotions, mitigate emotional dissonance and experience lower emotional exhaustion ( Karatepe, 2013 ; Kim et al., 2013 ), in order to reduce potential undesirable outcomes, such as turnover intentions and absenteeism. Referring to this organizational context, socialization and mentoring programs could be advantageous for the two inbound services, because these actions could increase awareness in relation to job role and work-related activities, and useful for CA and INFO services agents.

Referring to recruitment, it has been suggested that by clarifying the emotional labor requirements during the selection process, individuals may have a well-defined idea of what is expected ( Wanous, 1992 ) and, in this specific organizational context, it might be advantageous for the two inbound services (CA and INFO services). Making emotional requirements explicit during recruitment should create expectations about emotional performance ( Rafaeli and Sutton, 1987 ). However, many organizations lack explicit policies regarding emotional displays and norms to guide customer service behavior, with some referring to them only vaguely in their mission declarations ( Zapf, 2002 ; Constanti and Gibbs, 2005 ). Many studies ( Chen and Lin, 2009 ; Bartram et al., 2012 ) showed that when employees are selected to perform emotional labor, burnout is reduced. Other scholars ( Callaghan and Thompson, 2002 ; Grandey and Gabriel, 2015 ; Gabriel et al., 2016 ) highlighted that competencies embedded in personality (positive attitude, sense of humor, enthusiasm, extraversion), technical skills (typing, navigation), and communication (energy, fluency, warmth, tone) should be used for selection in emotionally laden jobs. Moreover, scholars have suggested recruiting and selecting individuals whose skills match the emotional display rules for a specific organization and/or role ( Glomb et al., 2004 ; Constanti and Gibbs, 2005 ).

Finally, the results of this study provided a contribution to current literature on emotional labor and affective discomfort in service occupations, especially in call center work, and identified differences between two different types of inbound activities. In particular, emotional dissonance mediates the relationship between workload and customer verbal aggression and affective discomfort for CA agents. These results suggested the importance of monitoring the experiences of emotional dissonance and emotional labor in call center work and the negative consequences for employees, in order to sustain workers and promote well-being in inbound call centers and in general in service jobs.

Author Contributions

All authors (MM, FE, MZ, CG, LC, CC) contributed to this work. MM and FE developed and designed the study, wrote the manuscript and received substantial input from co-authors. CG and LC collected the data. CG supervised the research team and contributed to introduction and discussion sections of the manuscript. LC and MZ contributed to methods and data analysis. CC contributed to conclusion and practical implications section of the manuscript. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript for submission.

Conflict of Interest Statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Acknowledgment

The authors would like to thank Roy Howse for the language revision.

• ^ http://www.istat.it/it/archivio/125372

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Keywords : call center work, job demands-resources model, emotional labor, emotional dissonance, customer verbal aggression

Citation: Molino M, Emanuel F, Zito M, Ghislieri C, Colombo L and Cortese CG (2016) Inbound Call Centers and Emotional Dissonance in the Job Demands – Resources Model. Front. Psychol. 7:1133. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01133

Received: 21 April 2016; Accepted: 15 July 2016; Published: 28 July 2016.

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Copyright © 2016 Molino, Emanuel, Zito, Ghislieri, Colombo and Cortese. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Chiara Ghislieri, [email protected]

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A process-centric performance management in a call center

• Published: 27 May 2022
• Volume 53 , pages 3304–3317, ( 2023 )

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• Onur Dogan   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-3543-4012 1  

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Discovering valuable information needs some extra focuses on business processes. Although data-centric techniques yield useful results, they are insufficient to explain the causes of the problems in the process. This study aims to reveal the relationship between customer satisfaction and other key performance indicators (KPIs) affected by the activities performed during the call process. The research applies process mining, a pragmatic analysis to obtain meaningful insights through event logs. Several statistical analyses also support the process mining to test the statistical significance. The study showed that customer satisfaction is positively affected by average handle time and first call resolution, whereas staff mistakes diminish it. Moreover, problem solving is much more important than waiting in the system. Waitlisted and Waitlisted back activities are crucial elements of a call center system. Moreover, the research presents an insight for customers who give the same score after the call. It explains not only KPIs’ effects but also reasons for giving satisfaction scores based on call process. Additionally, in previous studies, the customer satisfaction indicator was mainly emphasized, but other KPIs’ effects on satisfaction level were ignored. This paper evaluates the impact of the identified KPIs on satisfaction in a process-oriented manner.

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Dogan, O. A process-centric performance management in a call center. Appl Intell 53 , 3304–3317 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10489-022-03740-9

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Turnover intentions in a call center: The role of emotional dissonance, job resources, and job satisfaction

Margherita zito.

Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy

Federica Emanuel

Monica molino, claudio giovanni cortese, chiara ghislieri, lara colombo, associated data.

All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files.

Turnover intentions refer to employees’ intent to leave the organization and, within call centers, it can be influenced by factors such as relational variables or the perception of the quality of working life, which can be affected by emotional dissonance. This specific job demand to express emotions not felt is peculiar in call centers, and can influence job satisfaction and turnover intentions, a crucial problem among these working contexts. This study aims to detect, within the theoretical framework of the Job Demands-Resources Model, the role of emotional dissonance (job demand), and two resources, job autonomy and supervisors’ support, in the perception of job satisfaction and turnover intentions among an Italian call center.

The study involved 318 call center agents of an Italian Telecommunication Company. Data analysis first performed descriptive statistics through SPSS 22. A path analysis was then performed through LISREL 8.72 and tested both direct and indirect effects.

Results suggest the role of resources in fostering job satisfaction and in decreasing turnover intentions. Emotional dissonance reveals a negative relation with job satisfaction and a positive relation with turnover. Moreover, job satisfaction is negatively related with turnover and mediates the relationship between job resources and turnover.

This study contributes to extend the knowledge about the variables influencing turnover intentions, a crucial problem among call centers. Moreover, the study identifies theoretical considerations and practical implications to promote well-being among call center employees. To foster job satisfaction and reduce turnover intentions, in fact, it is important to make resources available, but also to offer specific training programs to make employees and supervisors aware about the consequences of emotional dissonance.

Introduction

For organizations, it is important to sustain employees’ well-being and limit the turnover rate. In fact, the most competent staff, that is the most productive in terms of quantity and quality, if develop a strong intention to leave could easily find another job placement. The organizational context would run the risk of a fall in results, both quantitative and qualitative, and should face high costs for the research, the integration and the training of new productive staff [ 1 , 2 ]. Traditionally, the call center occupation was considered “transitory” and suitable especially for people with low skills, since it is a poorly paid job without any career opportunities. Currently, in Italy, a country characterised by a weak labour market, high job insecurity and unemployment, call center job has become an occupation in which personnel stay for long periods of time. Considering this particular situation and the importance of understanding employees’ well-being to face it, the present study aims to detect, within the theoretical framework of the Job Demands-Resources Model [ 3 , 4 ], the role of a specific job demand, emotional dissonance, and of two resources, job autonomy and supervisors’ support, in the perception of job satisfaction and turnover intentions among an Italian call center.

The call center work

A call center can be defined as a work environment in which operators have to interact with customers by phone or other computer-based technologies [ 5 ]. Call centers, nowadays used by several companies, appeared in the early 1990s and served for organizations to reduce the costs of some services by improving customer facilities [ 6 ], and extending expectations of high service quality. The types of call center activities can be identified in inbound and outbound: the first, are suggested to have a passive role [ 5 ], since the activity is generally focused on receive calls from customers who contact the call center to complain and face with problems, whereas the second, is considered to be more active, since the operator is mostly engaged in selling and telemarketing [ 7 ].

According to studies [ 5 , 8 ], call center work can be considered as a sort of advanced Taylorism, in particular for the job division, the simplification of tasks, the pressure on job timing [ 9 ]. Moreover, the activity is complicated by the continuous contact with customers who ask for information, support and help and/or express aggression and anger [ 10 ], exposing the operator to considerable negative emotions and stressful experiences [ 11 , 12 ]. In call centers, sometimes, a high cognitive effort is also required when employees have to provide difficult technical answers, often without appropriate information and training resources [ 13 ]. The work activity is therefore characterized by a continuous contact with customers, which requires also communication skills and efficiency [ 6 ], and by repetitive tasks. Moreover, employees’ performance is often controlled and this limits their autonomy, leading to pressure on the daily job [ 12 , 14 ].

The continuous social interaction with customers requires call center operators to regulate their emotions as part of the work, for this reason also called emotional labour or emotion work [ 15 , 16 ]. The emotional labour is referred to the quality of interactions between the client and the operator [ 5 ], and it is a job demand particularly occurring in call center job, since it requires to express, during the voice-to-voice interaction, the emotions not really felt, but required by the organization [ 17 ]. Call centers operators are particularly exposed to states of emotional dissonance, which is the discrepancy between expressed and felt emotions and occurs when the organization requires to express emotions not really felt in a certain situation [ 5 , 16 ]. This is critical for call center employees’ well-being because suppressing negative emotions and expressing other positive moods, even requested by the organizational rules, can lead to emotional exhaustion [ 18 , 19 ]. As highlighted by Bakker and colleagues [ 6 ], well-being oriented research in call centers identified the following as main characteristics of the call center job: role stress; performance monitoring and lack of control on the activity; insufficient coaching, training and supervisors’ support; emotional exhaustion at work, consequently linked to low job satisfaction.

The job demands-resources model, job satisfaction and turnover intentions

Among the theoretical models able to understand the several aspects affecting well-being at work, the Job Demands-Resources model (JD-R model) [ 3 , 4 ] has received much attention by scholars. Thanks to its flexibility, in fact, the model allows to take account of many possible working conditions, making it applicable to different occupations; more than other models, such as the Demand-Control Model [ 20 , 21 ], the JD-R model has the added value to consider both positive and negative indicators of psychological well-being or discomfort [ 22 ]. The model assumes that well-being is influenced by two main categories of factors, job demands and job resources: job demands are mainly responsible for health degradation processes; job resources are mainly responsible for motivational processes.

More specifically, job demands are defined as “those physical, psychological, social, or organizational aspects of the job that require sustained physical and/or psychological (cognitive and emotional) effort or skills and are therefore associated with certain physiological and/or psychological costs” ([ 3 ], p. 312). Job demands can be both general, crossing all type of jobs, and specific, connected with the work characteristics. As for job resources, they are defined as “those physical, psychological, social, or organizational aspects of the job that are either/or: functional in achieving work goals; reduce job demands and the associated physiological and psychological costs; stimulate personal growth, learning, and development” ([ 3 ], p. 312). Resources are important for work since they can protect workers from discomfort outcomes and help individuals in improving their performance. According to the JD-R model, resources can also buffer the impact of job demands on negative outcomes undermining the quality of working life [ 3 , 4 ].

Among the outcomes considered by studies adopting this theoretical model, a major role is played, for positive outcomes, by work engagement and, for negative outcomes, by burnout [ 3 ]. However, some studies have used the model to explain also life satisfaction [ 22 ] and job satisfaction [ 23 , 24 ] in specific organizational contexts, such as call centers [ 6 ]. The present study is placed on continuity with these researches.

Job satisfaction refers to the extent to which employees like, or not, their job [ 25 ] and evaluate their job and the job situation positively, or not [ 26 ]. The research on the topic [ 27 , 28 ] revealed two different perceptions of job satisfaction: overall satisfaction, referring to the work as a whole, and specific satisfaction, referring to individual aspects of the work (e.g. the level of remuneration).

The importance of the job satisfaction construct is linked to its consequences, at the organizational and individual level. At the organizational level, job satisfaction influences many aspects, including the intention to change job [ 29 ], the degree of absenteeism [ 30 ] and turnover [ 31 , 32 ], the qualitative and quantitative individual and group performance [ 33 ], the quality of the product/service [ 34 ], the customer satisfaction [ 35 ], the propensity to implement organizational citizenship behaviors [ 36 ] or—in case of dissatisfaction—hostile behaviors [ 37 ] such as sabotage, damage, theft or voluntary waste of resources. At the individual level, studies show a positive relationship between job satisfaction and life satisfaction [ 38 ] and a negative relationship between job satisfaction, anxiety and depression [ 39 , 40 ], with consequences on well-being at work.

As for the possible organizational determinants of job satisfaction, studies found that the following characteristics have a major role: the characteristics of the work itself (type of activities, variety, possibility of feedback, etc.); the characteristics of the working environment (space, tools, relationships with colleagues, style of supervisors, etc.); the characteristics of the work organization (rhythms, schedules, shifts, etc.); the management practices and the staff development adopted by the organization (communication, training, evaluation, salary, etc.) [ 28 , 41 , 42 ].

This study considered also turnover intentions, since employees who are dissatisfied on the job are more likely to leave than those who are satisfied [ 43 ], also in call center work [ 44 ]. Moeover, call center work represents a stressful experience [ 5 ] which produces high absenteeism and turnover intentions [ 18 , 45 , 46 , 47 ], representing a crucial problem for organizations using call centers to manage clients’ services [ 6 ]. In fact, turnover intentions, which are related to employees’ intent to leave their organization, can be influenced by several factors such as the labor market, relational variables or employee attitudes [ 14 , 46 , 48 ], but also by the perception of the quality of working life [ 49 , 50 ] that can be affected by emotional dissonance, mentioned as a specific job demand in call centers. According to studies, emotional dissonance is a context-specific stressor [ 51 ], that can lead to a depletion of the individuals’ energy [ 12 , 19 ], and this stressful situation can influence both job satisfaction and intention to leave the job [ 45 ]. Considering the increasing intentions to leave call centers [ 47 , 52 ], indeed, it is important to consider the role of job satisfaction, highlighted by studies as a key variable able to influence employees’ turnover intentions [ 48 ]. Moreover, it is important to understand what could limit the intention to leave: studies suggest that the availability of resources can enhance the employees’ identification and involvement in the organization, that is negatively related to turnover intentions [ 6 ]. Among studies, the crucial resources in the call center context are related to: developmental opportunities; the possibility to manage and control time to do the work; social supports, particularly from supervisors, linked to coaching and clear feedback [ 6 , 48 , 52 ].

This study considered the role of a specific job demand linked to the call center work, the emotional dissonance, and two job resources, job autonomy and supervisors’ support, in the perception of job satisfaction and turnover intentions. As previously mentioned, emotional dissonance is crucial for call center employees and, according to studies, it has consequences on job satisfaction [ 8 , 53 ]. Indeed, other studies link not only the experience of negative or positive emotions to the perception of job satisfaction, but also underline the negative relation between the emotional dissonance experienced by employees and their job satisfaction [ 8 ]. Also, negative emotional experiences resulted to be associated to turnover intentions, as emotional strained workers would leave the job causing psychological discomfort [ 54 ], and affecting the quality of working life. Therefore, we formulated the following main study hypotheses:

Hypothesis 1a . Emotional dissonance has a negative relation with job satisfaction.

Hypothesis 1b . Emotional dissonance has a positive relation with turnover intentions.

Several studies suggested the importance of the quality of relationships in organization, since they can positively influence job satisfaction, working efficiency, communication, as well as ensure greater access to other resources [ 4 , 55 ]. Studies have in particular highlighted the crucial role played by the relation with supervisors [ 3 , 4 , 56 , 57 ]. This is also suggested in the light of the role of employee coaching, intended as working partnership in which the supervisor focuses on the performance, the needs, and the development of employees [ 58 ]. The perception of support is, in fact, crucial to perceive a higher quality of working life, work engagement and less exhaustion associated to work [ 3 , 4 , 22 , 55 ], even in call centers [ 6 , 12 ]. Another job resource particularly considered by studies is job autonomy, that is the degree of discretion on the work management. Job autonomy is considered crucial not only for its direct effects on different well-being at work indicators [ 3 ], but also as moderator of the relation between job demands and well-being outcomes [ 59 ]. Moreover, among call center, the possibility to have job autonomy is linked to a lower stress, to higher job satisfaction and performance and, consequently, to lower turnover intentions [ 60 ]. Thus, we formulated the following hypotheses:

Hypothesis 2a . Job resources (supervisors’ support and job autonomy) have a positive relation with job satisfaction.

Hypothesis 2b . Job resources (supervisors’ support and job autonomy) have a negative relation with turnover intentions.

Finally, the present study considered job satisfaction as a mediator between demands and resources and a negative outcome, such as turnover intentions. This point of view lies in the JD-R model theoretical framework, according to other studies that considered job satisfaction as a mediator between job demands, job resources and employees’ behaviours [ 61 , 62 ]. Moreover, research on call center employees’ perceptions of their job in relation to their intention to quit were limited [ 44 , 45 , 47 ].

Hypothesis 3 . Job satisfaction has a negative relation with turnover intentions.

Hypothesis 4 . The negative relation between job resources and turnover intentions is increased by the mediation of job satisfaction.

Hypothesis 5 . The positive relation between emotional dissonance and turnover intentions is decreased by the mediation of job satisfaction.

The conceptual model and the expected relations are specifically shown in Fig 1 .

Participants and data collection procedure

The study was conducted among a national Italian Telecommunication Company and involved a sample of inbound call center agents. Employees received an e-mail inviting them to the participation in the study explaining the aim of the research, the voluntary nature of the participation and the complete anonymity. The administration of the self-report questionnaire was on-line and the e-mail contained a link to participate in the study. The invitation to the study has been sent to 525 call center agents and 426 filled out the questionnaire (81.1% of the involved participants). After data cleaning, which excluded 108 incomplete questionnaires, the final sample comprised 318 respondents, covering the 60.6% of the call center agents involved in the research.

Ethical statement

The research project was shared and approved by the Company Board of Directors. The research procedure has been approved by both the Scientific Committee and the multidisciplinary Technical Task Force (trade unions, health and safety managers, occupational health physicians). Since there was no medical treatment or other procedures that could cause psychological or social discomfort to participants, additional ethical approval was not required. The study was conducted according to the Helsinki Declaration [ 63 ], and data protection followed regulation of the Italian country (Legislative Decree No. 196/2003). The Company and the Department of Psychology of the University of Turin signed an agreement to ensure anonymity and confidentiality in collecting, analysing data and publishing. Participants received no reward and voluntarily participated in the research.

Instruments

The questionnaire evaluated, through a demographic section, both personal (gender, age, marital status, having children) and professional (type of contract, time regime, seniority in the organization) characteristics of participants.

Moreover, the questionnaire assessed the following scales:

• Turnover intentions : 3 items of the turnover subscale of the Michigan Organizational Assessment Questionnaire [ 64 ] on a Likert scale ranging from 1 (disagree) to 4 (agree). Construct reliability (CR) was .78 and average variance extracted (AVE) was .55. The CFA indices were: χ2 (N = 426) = 0.00, df = 0, p = 1.00; RMSEA = 0.00, the model is saturated, the fit is perfect. The Cronbach’s alpha for the present study resulted of 0.70 (M = 1.90, SD = 0.8).
• Job satisfaction : 3 items of the job satisfaction subscale of the OSI questionnaire by Cooper and colleagues [ 65 ] on a Likert scale ranging from 1 (very unsatisfied) to 6 (very satisfied). Construct reliability (CR) was .95 and average variance extracted (AVE) was .85. The CFA indices were: χ2 (N = 426) = 0.00, df = 0, p = 1.00; RMSEA = 0.00, the model is saturated, the fit is perfect. The Cronbach’s alpha for the present study resulted of 0.91 (M = 3.50, SD = 1.2).
• Job autonomy : 6 items of the scale by Karasek and Theorell [ 21 ] on a Likert scale ranging from 1 (none) to 4 (a lot). Construct reliability (CR) was .78 and average variance extracted (AVE) was .50. The CFA indices were: χ2 (N = 426) = 9.61, df = 5, p = ns; RMSEA = 0.05; RMR = 0.01; GFI = 0.99; AGFI = 0.99; NFI = 0.99; CFI = 0.99.The Cronbach’s alpha for the present study resulted of 0.86 (M = 2.11, SD = 1.8).
• Emotional dissonance : 3 items by Zapf and colleagues [ 17 ] on a Likert scale ranging from 1 (never) to 6 (always). Construct reliability (CR) was .82 and average variance extracted (AVE) was .60. The CFA indices were: χ2 (N = 426) = 0.00, df = 0, p = 1.00; RMSEA = 0.00, the model is saturated, the fit is perfect. The Cronbach’s alpha for the present study resulted of 0.90 (M = 3.86, SD = 1.4).
• Supervisors’ support : 3 items by Caplan and colleagues [ 66 ] on a Likert scale ranging from 1 (disagree) to 6 (agree). Construct reliability (CR) was .78 and average variance extracted (AVE) was .55. The CFA indices were: χ2 (N = 426) = 0.00, df = 0, p = 1.00; RMSEA = 0.00, the model is saturated, the fit is perfect. The Cronbach’s alpha for the present study resulted of 0.94 (M = 4.79, SD = 1.3).

Data analysis

Data analysis first performed, through SPSS 22, descriptive statistics, Cronbach’s alphas ( α ), and correlations (Pearson’s r ) between all variables.

LISREL version 8.72 was used to conduct a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) for each scale and to examine the validity. Convergent validity (whether items can effectively reflect their corresponding factor) was examined by the Average Variance Extracted (AVE) and by the Composite Reliability (CR). All AVEs were ≥ 0.5 and CRs were ≥ 0.7, thus the scale has a good convergent validity [ 67 , 68 ]. In addition, all Cronbach’s alpha values exceed 0.7, suggesting a good reliability [ 69 ]. To examine the discriminant validity (whether two factors are statistically different) we compared the square root of AVE and factor correlation coefficients: for each factor, the square root of AVE is larger than its correlation coefficients with other factors. This suggests a good discriminant validity [ 68 , 70 ].

It was estimated a structural equation model with LISREL version 8.72 to asses, by a path analysis, the relation between variables and the mediation of job satisfaction between job autonomy, supervisors’ support, emotional dissonance, and turnover intentions. Relations between variables and hypotheses were specified a priori leading to the choice of a partial mediation model [ 71 ].

The goodness of the model fit was evaluated assessing the following indices, according to Kelloway’s indications [ 72 ]: the chi-square value ( χ 2 ), the χ 2 /df ratio (ratios between 2 and 5 indicate a good fit to the data), the RMSEA (cut-off criterion: RMSEA < 0.10 means a good fit to the data), the RMR (cut-off criterion: RMR < 0.05 indicates a good fit), the GFI (cut-off criterion: GFI > 0.9 indicates a good fit), the AGFI (cut-off criterion: AGFI > 0.9 indicates a good fit), the NFI (cut-off criterion: NFI > 0.9 indicates a good fit), the CFI (cut-off criterion: CFI > 0.9 indicates a good fit), the PNFI (cut-off criterion: PNFI between 0 and 1 with higher values indicating a good and parsimonious fit).

In order to deepen relations between all the assessed variables and to confirm the a priori tested model, alternative models were performed. In particular, six models have been estimated: one saturated, one non mediated, one fully mediated, and three partially mediated.

The demographic data show that the majority of participants are female (63.50%; N = 202), are married (74.20%; N = 236), have children (69.50%; N = 221) and have a mean age of 44 years (SD = 6.80). As for the professional characteristics of participants, most of them have a permanent contract (97.50%; N = 310), work full time (68.90%; N = 219) and, in line with the mean age, they have a job seniority of about 20 years (SD = 7.23).

As for correlations ( Table 1 ), turnover intentions and job satisfaction show significant relations with all the assessed variables. In particular, turnover is highly and negatively correlated with job satisfaction ( r = -.48), with job autonomy ( r = -.34), and with supervisors’ support ( r = -.31), whereas is positively correlated with emotional dissonance ( r = .28). Moreover, job satisfaction is highly and positively correlated with job autonomy ( r = .51) and supervisors’ support ( r = .42), and negatively correlated with emotional dissonance ( r = -.29).

** p < .01 level. Cronbach’s alphas are on the diagonal (between brackets).

After descriptive analyses and correlations, a path analysis was performed. In order to evaluate all the possible relations and to deepen the characteristics of the assessed relations between variables in this sample, different alternative models were tested; in the end, the model 6 was chosen and confirmed as the best one. As shown in Table 2 , it was performed a saturated model (model 1), a nonmediated model (model 2), a fully mediated model (model 3) and three partially mediated models. More in detail, model 4 showed the relations of resources with job satisfaction, which, in turn, has a relation with turnover; and a relation between emotional dissonance with job satisfaction and with turnover. Model 5 showed no relation between emotional dissonance and job satisfaction and turnover. Model 6 showed a relation between emotional dissonance and job satisfaction, but not a relation between emotional dissonance and turnover intentions mediated by job satisfaction. Looking at fit indices in Table 2 , model 6 resulted the best one, revealing a meaning of the assessed relations.

This estimated selected model is shown in Fig 2 and shows very good fit indices: χ 2 (1) = 3.56, p > .005, RMSEA = 0.090; RMR = 0.021; GFI = 1; AGFI = 0.93; NFI = 0.99; CFI = 0.99. Moreover, the χ 2 /df ratio is 3.56, comprised in the suggested range between 2 and 5, indicating, therefore, a good fit to the data.

The model shows that the job demand, emotional dissonance, is negatively associated with job satisfaction ( β = -.10), and positively associated with turnover intentions ( β = .13), confirming hypotheses 1a and 1b. The model shows that, within job resources, both job autonomy ( β = .40) and supervisors’ support ( β = .29) are positively associated with job satisfaction, confirming hypothesis 2a. Moreover, only job autonomy is negatively associated with turnover intentions ( β = -.12); supervisors’ support have no association with turnover intentions and this partially confirms hypothesis 2b. The direct association between job satisfaction and turnover intentions resulted negative and significant ( β = -.39), thus confirming hypothesis 3.

As for the indirect effects performed in the model estimation, the negative association between job autonomy and turnover intentions is increased by the mediation of job satisfaction ( β = -.16), and the negative association between supervisors’ support and turnover intentions is increased by the mediation of job satisfaction ( β = -.12), confirming hypothesis 4. Finally, the association between emotional dissonance and turnover intentions through the mediation of job satisfaction is not significant, not confirming hypothesis 5.

The aim of this study was to detect the role of a job demand peculiar in call center, such as emotional dissonance, and of two job resources crucial for the quality of working life and the perception of job satisfaction and turnover intentions, such as job autonomy and supervisors’ support in an Italian call center. According to the JD-R model, in fact, the present study considered both the presence of job demands and of job resources and their importance on employee well-being [ 3 , 4 , 6 ]. In particular, the research considered: job satisfaction as a mediator between emotional dissonance and resources on the one hand, and turnover intentions on the other hand; whether demands and resources can predict job satisfaction and turnover; whether job satisfaction can have a role on the turnover intentions. Therefore, in the specific call center context that is subject to emotional labour and turnover, it is also important to understand what could be useful in order to limit this negative outcome and enhance employee’s well-being.

Hypotheses 1a and 1b are confirmed: expressing emotions not felt has a role on the perception of job satisfaction [ 8 ] that, in this study, seems to be decreased by emotional dissonance. Moreover, the positive association between this job demand and turnover intentions, is in line with studies suggesting that emotional dissonance could be a context stressor depleting employees’ energy, engagement and, therefore, willingness to continue carrying on a job [ 45 , 51 ].

Hypothesis 2a was confirmed: in line with literature, both job autonomy and supervisors’ support are positively related to job satisfaction confirming their role as antecedents of job satisfaction and of well-being indicators in general. This type of job resources, in fact, are crucial for the quality of employees’ working life [ 22 , 57 , 59 ]. In particular, the perception of having support is crucial for employees’ engagement and development [ 3 ] and, thus, for their final performance. This is in line with studies suggesting a negative relationship between organizational supports and discomfort [ 12 ] and a positive relationship between these resources and employees’ well-being, underlying the role of a positive organizational climate [ 8 , 73 ]. This may have consequences on employees’ intentions to leave [ 60 ]: the perceived support should have a role on turnover intentions, but even if in the correlation analysis the negative relation between supervisors’ support and turnover is confirmed, the relation in the estimated model is not significant. This could depend on the type of working context and should be deepen and developed in future studies. However, as for hypothesis 2b, as expected, job autonomy is negatively associated with turnover intentions, confirming its role as a real resource for this sample of employees, who can manage their job, and for the organization, which has more involved and motivated workers [ 3 ]. In fact, in such designed and defined job, autonomy allows employees to decide how to manage their work, in particular in answering to customers; this could permit a greater control over the relations and the negative emotions that derive from the necessity to express different emotions and behaviours. Therefore, hypothesis 2b is partially confirmed.

As expected, also hypothesis 3 is confirmed: job satisfaction is negatively related with turnover intentions, in line with studies assuming that job satisfaction can have influences on the intention to change work [ 29 , 31 , 32 ]. Das and colleagues [ 48 ], in fact, suggest that job satisfaction can give a measure of how people experience their quality of working life, leading them to choice if staying or leaving their job. In this sense, it could be functional to understand how fostering job satisfaction also to face and limit the possibility of turnover intentions in call center that lead organization to invest time and resources in searching and integrating new productive staff [ 1 , 2 ].

The mediator role of job satisfaction between job resources and turnover supports hypothesis 4. The direct relation between supervisors’ support was not significant in the estimated model, but it is interesting that the mediation of job satisfaction is significant. The relation between supervisors’ support and turnover intentions seems to be activated by the mediation of job satisfaction which, in line with literature [ 3 ], could enhance the negative influence of the perceived support on the intention to leave the organization. This confirms that having positive and supportive organizational climate could have a role on well-being. Job satisfaction is an indicator of psychological well-being and it is less likely that satisfied workers have the intention to leave a satisfactory organization [ 43 , 44 ]. Moreover, the negative relation between job autonomy and turnover is higher with the mediation of job satisfaction, suggesting that job satisfaction is a key variable on turnover dynamics [ 48 ].

Finally, hypothesis 5 has not been supported: the significant direct relation between emotional dissonance and turnover intentions, in this sample, is not decreased by the presence of job satisfaction. However, the fact that emotional dissonance has a direct significant negative relation with job satisfaction, and a direct positive relation with turnover intentions, reinforces the role of emotional dissonance as a typical job demands of call center context [ 12 , 16 ], able to undermine psychological well-being and the quality of the working life.

Conclusions and practical implications

The present study contributes, within the framework of the JD-R model, to extend the knowledge about the relations that can influence turnover intentions in call center contexts [ 14 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 52 ], leading organizations facing high costs and staff reorganization [ 1 , 2 ]. Furthermore, this study contributes to deepen the role of a specific demand in call centers, emotional dissonance, that is one of the main causes of turnover among this work context [ 48 , 52 ].

Useful implications for both researchers and practitioners emerged.

First of all, one important aspect refers to organizational identification and the psychological attachment to the organization. Enhancing the sense of belonging and the organizational identification can result in higher motivation, job satisfaction, organizational citizenship behaviours, and in reduced turnover intentions [ 36 , 49 , 61 , 74 ], also among call center [ 44 , 75 ]. To foster these positive dynamics is important to make employees aware about organizational job design, and to facilitate their involvement through job autonomy, which, in this study, seems to be important in particular for the potential to manage work activities and, therefore, the related emotions, and the availability of resources in general. Moreover, it is important to foster group experiences, since enhancing good dynamics between co-workers and thus creating positive relations at work could reduce the turnover intention [ 74 ].

Referring to the emotional labor, one practical action to foster awareness and involvement can be to clarify the emotional requirement during the selection process, in order to give a defined idea to individuals of what is expected [ 76 ], and also to identify the most suitable employees to perform the emotional activity [ 77 ]. In line with this, a recent study suggests that emotional job demands that are congruent with employees’ abilities are associated with job satisfaction [ 78 ].

Another implication for organizations is the development of training programs for call center operators to facilitate their emotion regulation both to cope with customer aggressions [ 10 ], and to improve emotion regulation strategies. To be aware about the consequences of emotional dissonance is a crucial aspect in order to protect employees emotional balance, improve individual strategies and reduce the negative costs associated to turnover arising from emotional strain. In line with findings of the present study, having a guide and training programs to regulate emotions could also be precious to reach job satisfaction, with positive outcome for employees’ well-being and for organizational goals.

Within this implication, also supervisors should be engaged in training programs in order to both be aware about the emotional labour, and learn and improve the support they can give to employees to overcome negative emotional situations [ 79 ]. Moreover, as emerged in this study, supervisors have a key role in supporting employees: having awareness on this topic could give the possibility to build positive organizational contexts, with good relationships and dynamics, and thus to reduce the intention to leave the organization [ 46 , 57 ].

As this study shows, in fact, resources are crucial for job satisfaction and the reduction of turnover intentions. Supporting employees means to enhance the possibility to foster their well-being and their motivation [ 3 , 4 ], but also their sense of belonging. Moreover, as shown by this study and suggested by several studies in the theoretical framework of the JD-R model, an important implication is to improve job autonomy and the control over activities, since studies suggest that, within call centers, autonomy is related to higher satisfaction and performance and to lower stress and turnover [ 60 ]. However, in general, organizational resources can buffer the stressful effect of job demands and can foster the individual development and abilities [ 22 , 56 ]. In particular, resources as job autonomy and social support can facilitate optimal experiences at work which, in turn, can foster motivational dynamics and well-being at work [ 80 , 81 , 82 ].

Limitations and future research

A first limitation of the present study is the use of a cross-sectional design of the study that does not permit to establish definite causality relationships between variables [ 83 ]. Future diary and longitudinal studies can better examine the role of emotional dissonance, resources and demands in general on job satisfaction and turnover intentions. Moreover, future longitudinal studies could overcome another limitation by detecting the level of employees’ identification with the organization, in order to verify further relations with turnover intentions and to identify adequate organizational practices.

Furthermore, this study used a self-report instrument, which may not be free from common method variance bias; this aspect could be controlled in future studies.

Another limitation refers to sample which involves only one professional group of a unique organization, not allowing the generalization of findings. Future researches could involve other groups of employees, also investigating possible differences among professional call center contexts: multi-group analysis could reveal possible differences among groups, giving a contribution in identifying best practices for employees’ well-being and reducing their intentions to leave the organization. In addition, further studies could also explore the relationship between variables and work perception, for example, in terms of perceived job insecurity, typical for the Italian labour market and for customer service jobs, as done in other professional groups [e.g. 84 ]. As call center job in this framework can become a long-term job, an important point to detect should be overqualification. In fact, overqualified and over-skilled workers may gain competences and skills, but not having the possibility to have a career advancement in call center. Therefore, workers may experiment job dissatisfaction or need to change job, roles or positions [ 85 ].

Moreover, future studies could detect employees’ dispositional aspects that studies indicate to be linked to job satisfaction [ 86 ], such as locus of control, the positive/negative affectivity, and emotional stability. Monitoring these variables could help the understanding of the emotional labour dynamics which characterize call centers, and that can have a detrimental effect on employees’ well-being and job satisfaction. Moreover, in line with studies detecting the relationship between negative emotional experiences at work and job satisfaction [ 54 ], these aspects could be read with organizational data on absenteeism or the use of sick leave, in order to detect and prevent potential problems related to job demands or customer aggression, and the quality of working life.

Finally, future considerations about call center contexts should contemplate the possibility for employees to adequately recover and detach during and after work. This could preserve their energy, create the conditions to live optimal experiences at work [ 87 ], which should allow them to better cope with negative emotions deriving from the emotional labor, and to improve the quality of extra-work life [ 88 ].

Supporting information

S1 data matrix, s1 questionnaire, s2 questionnaire, funding statement.

The authors received no specific funding for this work.

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International Journal of Applied Psychology

p-ISSN: 2168-5010    e-ISSN: 2168-5029

2021;  11(1): 1-11

doi:10.5923/j.ijap.20211101.01

Received: Dec. 6, 2020; Accepted: Jan. 4, 2021; Published: Jan. 15, 2021

Predictors of Psychological Well-Being among Call Center Agents

Magaya Aiken Dale

Ifugao State University, Nayon, Lamut, Ifugao, Philippines

Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Scientific & Academic Publishing.

The emergence of the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry introduced such drastic changes. Its demands have brought significant changes to the Philippines’ work scene. Despite the good impact of the BPO industry in The Philippines, there are certain problems in the industry such as high attrition rate, work-life balance conflicts, lifestyle diseases, and others that need to be dealt with. As such, the study attempted to investigate the impact of the different sources of motivation and the phases of burnout on the psychological well-being of Filipino call center agents. Data were gathered from 300 call center agents from four call center companies in Baguio City using cross-sectional prediction. It was found that call center agents have a moderate level of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. In terms of the level of burnout, the participants have a high level of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization which resulted in low personal accomplishment. Further analysis revealed that intrinsic motivation (β = .38, p = .001) and the three different phases of burnout such as emotional exhaustion (β = .-0.39, p = .001), depersonalization (β = .-0.25, p = .001) and reduced personal accomplishment (β = .-0.23, p = .001) are significant predictors of psychological well-being of call center agents. Multiple Regression analyses revealed that 41.8% [F (5,294) = 44.004, ΔR2 = .418, p < .001] of the variance in the psychological well-being of the respondents is accounted for by the combined effects of both burnout and motivation.

Keywords: Psychological Well-being, Motivation, Burnout, Call Center, Business Process Outsourcing

Cite this paper: Magaya Aiken Dale, Predictors of Psychological Well-Being among Call Center Agents, International Journal of Applied Psychology , Vol. 11 No. 1, 2021, pp. 1-11. doi: 10.5923/j.ijap.20211101.01.

Article Outline

1. introduction, 2. methodology, 2.1. research design, 2.2. participants, 2.3. research instrument, 2.4. research procedure, 3. data analysis and results, 4. discussion, 5. conclusions, 6. the implication for future policy and practice.

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As the Kremlin Revises History, a Human Rights Champion Becomes a Casualty

The shuttering of Memorial, the country’s most prominent human rights organization, has saddened Russians who were personally touched by its work shining a light on the injustices of the Soviet past.

By Valerie Hopkins and Ivan Nechepurenko

MOSCOW — In 1990, the year before she died, Zipporah Rosenblatt Kahana spoke publicly for the first time about her imprisonment in Russian labor camps 50 years earlier. She did hard labor and worked as a seamstress, but the conditions were so severe that she lost her left eye. Her husband was executed as an enemy of the state. Her “crime” was being married to him.

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The great-grandfather, Mikhail N. Malama, was a former aide to Czar Nicholas II, she said. He was arrested in 1937 and charged with a conspiracy to commit a terrorist act.

What happened to him next had been a family mystery for decades. In 2019, however, Ms. Kazantseva discovered his name in Memorial’s database — which contains more than three million files. Memorial representatives helped her submit a request with the archives, which eventually sent her a package. It contained Mr. Malama’s picture. For the first time, Ms. Kazantseva could see his face.

“It was a very special feeling to see a person for the first time and realize that he looks like your relative,” said Ms. Kazantseva, a freelance composer.

“Memorial preserves memory of what happened in our country, if you erase it, then it can all get rewritten,” said Ms. Kazantseva.

While the government acknowledges the trauma of the Stalin era, it is also attempting to spur patriotism among Russians. The core element of that is celebrating Russia’s contributions to World War II and the defeat of the Nazis, which laid the foundations of the Soviet Union as a global powerhouse.

Some Russians find Stalin’s iron-fisted rule appealing in a world full of chaos and uncertainty. In a 2019 poll conducted by the independent Levada Center, 70 percent of those surveyed believed Stalin played an “entirely” or “mostly positive” role in Russian history, the highest since Levada started asking the question in 2003.

Stalin was the Soviet Union’s leader at the time, which is why, in the eyes of the Kremlin, his image should not be completely tarnished, said Aleksandr Baunov, editor in chief of the Carnegie Moscow Center’s website.

Mr. Baunov drew a comparison between the shuttering of Memorial and the actions of China’s Communist Party as it rewrites its history under Mr. Xi.

“This is a real shift toward a Chinese attitude to history,” he said, describing the approach as “‘Yes, there were individual mistakes, there were victims, including unjustified sacrifices, but all that was for the greatness of the country,’” Mr. Baunov said.

Mr. Xi has used the Soviet Union as a cautionary tale for China, saying it collapsed because its leaders had been unable to quash “historical nihilism,” referring to critical accounts of political persecution, or attempts to chronicle government mistakes that led citizens to lose faith in communism.

Mr. Dykhne, who at age 24 does not remember any Russian leader besides Mr. Putin, said the Gulag system was never discussed at his school in Moscow. He said what he learned about the Soviet dissident movement and his family’s history came from his elders.

In November, after prosecutors announced their investigation into Memorial, he donated his great-grandmother’s complete personal archive to the organization, and trusts they will somehow find a way to preserve it.

Mr. Dykhne, who works as a sculptor, said her experience weighs on him as he assesses events in Russia today. He said his family history prevented him from trusting Russian authorities.

“A lot of people are losing hope now for some kind of normal future in this country,” he said.

But he also said the brutality of the Soviet state made him painfully aware of the consequences of dissent. He mentioned the brutal crackdown on protesters in January this year after the dissident Aleksei A. Navalny returned from Germany, where he was recovering from what doctors said was poisoning by a Russian-made nerve agent, and was later sent to a penal colony. The ensuing protests were large-scale and spread across the country, but they were violently suppressed, with thousands arrested.

“If a year ago someone may have believed in all sorts of street protests, now the authorities have already shown us what that leads to,’’ he said. “I do not see any solution.”

“They are trying to erase our memory,” he said. “There is a feeling that they are trying to somehow paint over what happened then, so that we cannot compare it with what is happening now.”

Alina Lobzina contributed reporting.

Valerie Hopkins is a correspondent based in Moscow. She previously covered Central and Southeastern Europe for a decade, most recently for the Financial Times. More about Valerie Hopkins

Ivan Nechepurenko has been a reporter with the Moscow bureau since 2015, covering politics, economics, sports, and culture in Russia and the former Soviet republics. He was born and raised in St. Petersburg, Russia. More about Ivan Nechepurenko

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Novotel Moscow Centre Hotel

How do i get to the hotel from domodedovo airport.

By taxi The journey from Domodedovo to the Novotel Moscow Center Hotel by car will take over an hour. Official airport taxis cost $70 dollars or more (depending on the class of car), or you can arrange a transfer with a driver to meet your flight here .

By train Aeroexpress trains run from Domodedovo to Pavelets Railway Station. Trains run daily at 30-minute intervals from 6am to 12am, with a journey of 40-50 minutes. Standard adult single tickets cost a little over $10, with discounts available for small children and family tickets. Then, from Paveletskaya Metro Station, take the brown circle line five stops counterclockwise to Novoslobodskaya Station, which is less than a five-minute walk from the Novotel.

By bus There are also bus services running from the airport to Domodedovskaya Metro Station, in the far south-east of Moscow. Buses leave the airport from the stop between exits 2 and 3 of the arrivals lounge. There is a choice of regular bus service ($3-4, from 6am to 12am daily every 15 minutes, journey time 25-30 minutes) and a minibus shuttle service ($4-5, from 6am to 12am every 15 minutes, and with a less frequent service all through the night). Take the dark-green line north from Domodedovskaya and travel eleven stops to Tverskaya Metro Station. Then change to the grey line and travel two stops north to Mendeleevskaya. The Novotel Center Hotel is in the same building as the metro station.