Determinants of Stress and Well-being in Call
center employees:
Role of Self-efficacy and Social Support
Narsingh Kumar
Research Scholar, HSS, IIT Guwahati
At the turn of the century a
confluence of economic, political and socio-cultural forces are impacting
profoundly on our contemporary work arrangements (Cooper, Dewe
& O’Driscoll , 2001). These forces are changing the nature of some work settings and
moreover they are creating new advanced work settings as well. The impact of
globalization of economy has led to a shift from manufacturing to knowledge and
service based economies. Further, the exponential rate of technological change
has outstripped efforts to develop socio-technical perspectives that integrate
human needs and values into the management of jobs and organizations (Cooper et
al., 2001).
The climate in organizations
also has changed dramatically in the past decade with increased demands from
globalization of economy and the rapid development of communication technology
(Casio, 1995; Schabracq & Copper, 2000). This rapid development in
communication technology and the increased need of information for general
people has created a new form of business opportunity for industries in human
services. Workplace is considered one of the important places to study various
issues related to people. Emergence of new complex organizations/industries
caused by rapid technological changes allows work/organizational researchers to
study the old problems at new workplace.
The impact of sickness absence in UK economy is estimated
to be 12 billion pounds, 50% of which is estimated to be stress
related (Cooper, 1998). In the United States, it is estimated that 54% of
sickness absence is stress related (Elkin & Rosch, 1990). In India also, it
is assumed to have concerning effects on productivity.
According to WHO (2001), mental health
problems and stress-related disorders are the biggest overall cause of
premature death in Europe. On the organizational level, stressors exist for
each and every occupation. Studies reveal that, the probability of existence of
stressors is more in human services occupations than others. The number of
organizational stressors varies from occupation to occupation as well as
intensity felt or perceived by all (Gienac & Appelbaum, 1997). One of the
contemporary work settings that draws attention of researchers towards stress
related issues primarily due to changes in the work practices including unusual
working hours, is call center. Call center is a relatively new, 21st
century Occupation, which is facing a number of stress problems.
A call center is typically defined as a voice operations center that interfaces
with the customer in a variety of ways from customer support, billing,
provisioning, directory assistance, to technical support (Jack, Bedics & McCary, 2006). Call
centers are a growing part of the service industry in many countries including
India. A call center is one of the most
important instruments used by organizations to meet their customers. Today’s
organizations heavily depend on their call centers to attract their customers.
It may be an opportunity to know the customers and to build a relationship with
them (Whittaker et.al. 1996). Many work factors may be common across
occupations but they are different in their frequency and strength in a
specific occupation. For example, the role conflict factor at work may exist in
many occupations, but its strength may be more in call centers than teacher
jobs. A huge amount job have been created in is sector in recent years and
trends are that, this is going to continue. Call centers are high-pressure work
environments characterized by routinisation, scripting,
computer-based-monitoring and intensive performance targets (Houlihan, 2000).
This kind of work environment promises a series of business advantages, but
also results in unwanted outcomes.
The
objective of this study is to investigate various work related issues of the
call center employees. The study will focus at work factors related to call
center agents’ adjustment, stress and burnout. Specifically, how the work
factors can influence the adjustment of call center agents, and how some work
factors may increase the probability of stress and burnout experiences of call
center employees. The study will also investigate the role of social support to
employees’ overall adjustment in life. The role of self-efficacy and how it
helps the employees in the call centers to cope up with stress is also under
the objectives of this study. This study will seek to provide more evidence on
some of the earlier findings in call center research.
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