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

from a conference sponsored by this journal, are then summarized.
Keywords: Call centers, Human resource management
67. Douthitt, Elizabeth A. Effects of leader behaviors on service employee role perceptions, fairness
perceptions, and performance, Dissertation - Abstracts - International Section A: Humanities
and Social Sciences, 62 (11-A), 2002.
Abstract. Leaders play an important role in communicating role expectations, and in supporting
and facilitating effective performance. Their behaviors may be critical to their ability to
effectively facilitate high-level performance. Leaders face particular challenges in service environments
such as call centers, where employee job effectiveness is influenced by the quality of
interactions with customers. Call centers commonly use monitoring practices, and yet the effects
of these practices are not understood. Monitoring along with other leader behaviors may convey
information to employees about role expectations. The clarity, effectiveness, and perceived fairness
of these role messages may depend in part on the combination of behaviors leaders elect to
use. This study applied role theory and justice theory to predict interactive effects of leader monitoring
and other behaviors on employee role perceptions and fairness perceptions. Monitoring
and three other behaviors were predicted to interactively influence role ambiguity, role accuracy
and fairness perceptions. These perceptions in turn were predicted to influence performance and
turnover intentions. A web-based survey was conducted in a customer service call center. The
survey inquired about leader behaviors, employee perceptions, turnover intent and performance.
Results supported some of the predictions. Leader monitoring and recognition interacted in
their relationship with role ambiguity. A joint relationship between monitoring × empowerment
and perceived fairness was mediated by role ambiguity. Role ambiguity was negatively related
to fairness perceptions. Perceived fairness was positively related to performance and negatively
related to turnover intent. No relationships were revealed involving role accuracy. Results of the
study indicate that effects of monitoring are conditional upon other leader behaviors, specifically
those that empower employees and recognize their performance. The two interactive combinations
of leader behaviors had different effects on employee role ambiguity and on perceptions
of leader fairness. Results of the study also contributed to a deeper understanding of fairness
perceptions and the importance of adequate role-related information. Employees who reported
experiencing greater role clarity (less role ambiguity) indicated greater perceptions of leader
fairness. The results demonstrate the utility of role theory and organizational justice theory
for developing predictions and gaining insights into effective leadership behaviors in customer
service environments.
Keywords: Role perceptions, Fairness, Job performance, Leader behaviors
68. Eveleth, Daniel M. and Linda Morris. Adaptive selling in a call center environment: A qualitative
investigation, Journal of Interactive Marketing, 16 (1), 2002, 25.
Abstract. Technological changes and innovations have created the means by which organizations
can centralize the selling function into a call-center environment. While there are numerous
benefits to this centralization, the fact that potential customers are drawn to a call center via
telephone or Web-based communication media from a wide geographic area heightens the need
for sales representatives to preform adaptive-selling behaviors. This study found evidence to
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