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

lower in call agents. Within the call agent sample, controlling for negative affectivity and other
working conditions, job control predicted intention to quit, and job complexity/variety predicted
job satisfaction and effective commitment. Social stressors and task-related stressors predicted
uniquely indicators of well-being and job-related attitudes. Furthermore, data confirm the role
of emotional dissonance as a stressor in its own right, as it explained variance in irritated reactions
and psychosomatic complaints beyond other working conditions. Results indicate that
strong division of labour may be a rather general phenomenon in call centres. Therefore, working
conditions of call agents require a redesign by means of job enrichment or, better, organizational
development. Moreover, measures of social stressors and emotional dissonance should be integrated
routinely into stress-related job analyses in service jobs.
82. Grougiou, Vassiliki and Alan Wilson. Financial service call centres: Problems encountered by
the grey market, Journal of Financial Services Marketing, 7 (4), 2003, 360.
Abstract. Technological advances have resulted in financial service companies being able to
make use of alternative channels such as call centers and the Internet to deliver their services
to their customers. At the same time, there has been a major growth throughout Europe in
the gray market consisting of people who grew up in an age of face-to-face contact with service
suppliers. This paper reports on a program of qualitative research looking at the gray market’s
perceptions of the call center delivery channel. It discusses the difficulties encountered by this
market and the negative views that are held. It also highlights the need for further research into
this area if financial service organizations are going to address the issues raised and effectively
satisfy the needs of this growing market segment.
Keywords: Financial services, Older people, Consumer attitudes, Call centers, Customer services,
Market research, Studies
83. Hyman, J., C. Baldry, D. Scholarios and D. Bunzel. Work-life imbalance in call centres and
software development, British Journal of Industrial Relations, 41 (2), 2003, 215.
Abstract. The paper evaluates the centrality of work to employees in two growing employment
sectors, call centres and software development. It then examines evidence for extensions of work
into household and family life in these two sectors. Extensions are identified as tangible, such
as unpaid overtime, or intangible, represented by incursions imported from work, such as exhaustion
and stress. The study finds that organizational pressure, combined with lack of work
centrality, result in work intruding into non-work areas of employee lives, though intrusions
manifest themselves in different ways according to type of work, levels of worker autonomy and
organizational support.
Keywords: Studies, Call centers, Software industry, Work life programs, Working conditions,
Statistical analysis
(Appears also in Section III.)
84. Richardson, Ranald and Andrew Gillespie. The call of the wild: Call centers and economic
development in rural areas, Growth and Change, 34 (1), 2003, 87–108.
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