CALL CENTERS (CENTRES) - Faculty of Industrial Engineering and ...

Keywords: Call centres, Stress, Job design, Performance monitoring, Human resource management
61. Konradt, U., G. Hertel and K. Joder. Web-based assessment of call center agents: Development
and validation of a computerized instrument, International Journal of Selection and Assessment,
11 (2-3), 2003, 184–193.
Abstract. This study describes the development and validation of the Call Center Aptitude
Test (C-A-T), an Internet-based multi-method measure for the pre-selection of call centre agents.
The C-A-T includes a short biographical form, a cognitive speed test, a personality inventory,
and a multimedia situational judgement test. A total of 327 call centre agents completed the
C-A-T and were concurrently assessed by their superiors. In a pilot study (N = 151), a prototype
was tested and subsequently optimized. In the main study (N = 176), the revised and
extended version of the C-A-T was reliable (alpha = 0.85) and showed good convergent and
discriminant validity. The concurrent validity (r = 0.33) can be considered to be satisfactory
for a computerized pre-selection instrument. Evidence was also found for high face validity and
acceptance in both studies.
62. Korczynski, Marek. Communities of coping: Collective emotional labour in service work, Organization,
10 (1), 2003, 55-79.
Abstract. This article argues that communities of coping among front-line service workers are
an important part of what Hochschild has called “collective emotional labor” in service work.
The analysis is framed in a sociological understanding of the customer as the key source of both
pleasure and pain for service workers. Irate and abusive customers, who are systematically part
of the social relations of the service workplace, may occasion real pain in service workers. The
structure of workers’ social situation means that they are likely to turn to each other to cope
with this pain, forming informal communities of coping. Drawing an extensive research in four
call centers in Australia and the US, this article highlights this important process in action. The
communities of coping were an important social process in these workplaces, creating informal,
dense cultures among the workforce. These cultures had important implications for how far the
social relations of the workplace were open to management control.
Keywords: Corporate culture, Organizational behavior, Studies, Call centers, Service industries,
Customer relations, Emotions
(Appears also in Section III.)
63. Lewig, K.A. and M.F. Dollard. Emotional dissonance, emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction
in call centre workers, European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 12 (4), 2003,
366–392.
Abstract. The rapid rise of the service sector, and in particular, the call centre industry, has
made the study of emotional labour increasingly important within the area of occupational stress
research. Given high levels of turnover and absenteeism in the industry, this article examines
the emotional demands (emotional labour) of call centre work and their relationship to job satisfaction
and emotional exhaustion in a sample of South Australian call centre workers (NV=v98)
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