Does CRM technology implementations mitigate employee intention to quit in call centres

Abstract

In the contemporary business environment technology is vital to an organisation's performance. Therefore, in the context of an inbound call centre; this study examines the effect of technology-based customer relationship management (CRM) on employees' intention to quit. A cross-sectional research approach was used and data was collected from the Malaysian call centre industry. By using survey data, the conceptualised model was tested through structural equation modelling. The findings revealed that the deployment of state-of-the-art technology-based CRM, followed by proper training, could significantly and positively engender employee job satisfaction. Furthermore, qualitative overstretch could be prevented, consequentially resulting in a significant reduction in employees' intention to quit. Moreover, this study confirms that technology-based CRM implementations within the call centre industry can be a powerful initiative toward resolving the problem of employees' low job satisfaction and intentions to quit. This study recommends ways, in which management of call centres might best develop, deploy and assess their technology applications so that employees will be less stressed, more satisfied, and willing to remain with the organisation. Areas for future research were also discussed.