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

control, and that call centre employees are required to suggest a “friendly smile” when they are
on the phone.
(Appears also in Section IV.)
32. Higgs, Malcolm. A study of the relationship between emotional intelligence and performance in
UK call centres, Journal of Managerial Psychology, 19 (4), 2004, 442–454.
Abstract. Within business, the organisational concept of call centres has developed rapidly.
Within the UK, the use and development of these centres has grown at a significant rate over
the last decade. The economic benefits of this organisational concept have been threatened by
the nature of the work and operating environment leading to high levels of attrition with associated
recruitment, training and loss of productivity costs. As a result, much effort has been
focused on recruitment criteria and selection processes. In reviewing the criteria, it is clear that
many overlap with elements from within the concept of emotional intelligence (EI). This research
note reports a study designed to explore the relationship between the EI of call centre agents
(using the EIQ measure developed by Dulewicz and Higgs, and ratings of their performance.
A sample of 289 agents from three organisations was studied. Results included a strong relationship
between overall EI and individual performance, as well as between several EI elements
from the model and performance. Furthermore, a relationship between age and performance
was established along with a number of gender differences. The practical implications of these
findings are discussed along with the study limitations. Further areas for research are identified
including differences between agents in reaction and proactive roles and relationships to more
direct measures of agent attrition.
Keywords: Occupational psychology, Call centers, Studies, Skills, Personality traits, Performance
evaluation, Correlation analysis
33. Witt, L.A., Martha C. Andrews, Dawn S. Carlson. When conscientiousness isn’t enough: Emotional
exhaustion and performance among call center customer service representatives, Journal
of Management, 30 (1), 2004, 149–160.
Abstract. The authors examined the relationship of the interaction between emotional exhaustion
and conscientiousness with objectively-measured call volume performance and subjectivelymeasured
service quality ratings among 92 call center customer service representatives (CSR)
of a financial services institution. Results supported the interactive effects on call volume but
not service quality. Specifically, the relationship between emotional exhaustion and call volume
was stronger among high- than low-conscientiousness CSR’s. Among CSR’s reporting low levels
of emotional exhaustion, those high in conscientiousness achieved higher call volumes than
those low in conscientiousness. In contrast, among CSR’s reporting high levels of emotional
exhaustion, those high in conscientiousness achieved lower call volumes than those low in conscientiousness.
Implications for both the personality and stress literature are discussed. Practical
implications for human resource managers are also offered.
Keywords: Studies, Emotions, Fatigue, Call centers, Customer services, Volume, Quality of service,
Management theory
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