Call Center Company Research Articles

Problematic customers and customer service employee retaliation

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of problematic customer behaviors on customer service employee (CSE) attitudes and subsequent retaliation toward customers.Design/methodology/approach– Data from five semi-structured in-depth interviews and a structured survey with 434 responses are used to develop and test the theoretical model. CSEs working in different call center companies serving American and European customers were approached using an established survey panel.Findings– Results using partial least squares methodology showed that problematic customer behaviors have significant effects on emotional dissonance and drain CSEs emotionally. Negative emotional reactions are positively impacted by higher emotional dissonance and exhaustion levels and, subsequently, lead to higher employees’ retaliation.Research limitations/implications– For implications, this study provides an understanding of the relationship between problematic customer behaviors and CSEs’ retaliation. Future researchers can utilize the findings to investigate employee retaliation in other marketing employees. Limitation was use of cross-sectional data.Practical implications– This paper provides call center managers with an understanding of the effects of problematic customer behaviors on employee attitudes. It discusses the need for understanding problematic customers and ways to manage the effects of such experiences. This research helps call center and customer service managers recognize the existence of problematic customer behaviors and retaliation of employees, and different levels of antecedents to such employee responses.Originality/value– The study investigates an under-researched phenomenon, problematic customer behaviors. It provides evidence of relationship between problematic customer behaviors and CSE retaliation. This study is one of the few to investigate employee retaliation in services.

Problematic customers and turnover intentions of customer service employees

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of problematic customer behaviors on customer service employee attitudes and subsequent turnover intentions from the organization and also the occupation.Design/methodology/approachData from five semi‐structured depth interviews and 215 quantitative surveys using structured questionnaires were used to develop and test the theoretical model. Customer service employees working in different call center companies serving American customers were approached using an established survey panel.FindingsResults using the partial least squares (PLS) methodology showed that problematic customer behaviors drain customer service employees emotionally. Emotional exhaustion is negatively related to job satisfaction, and subsequently, employees' turnover intentions. The results also show that turnover intentions with organization and occupation are positively related to each other.Research limitations/implicationsAs regards implications, this study provides an understanding of the relationship between problematic customer behaviors and employees' turnover intentions. Future researchers can utilize the findings from this study for investigating other consequences and antecedents of problematic customer behaviors. A limitation of the study is its use of cross‐sectional data.Practical implicationsThis paper provides call center managers with an understanding of the effects of problematic customer behaviors on employee attitudes. It discusses the need for understanding problematic customers and ways to manage the effects of such experiences.Originality/valueThe study investigates an under‐researched phenomenon, i.e. problematic customer behaviors. The study provides evidence of the relationship between problematic customer behaviors and turnover intentions in service employees. This study is also one of very few in marketing to investigate the relationship between organizational and occupational turnover intentions.

Evaluation of oral performance in outsourced call centres: An exploratory case study

This case study discusses the development and use of an oral performance assessment instrument intended to evaluate Filipino agents’ customer service transactions with callers from the United States (US). The design and applications of the instrument were based on a longitudinal, qualitative observation of language training and customer service support practices of Philippine-based agents employed by a US-owned call centre company. Although language training in Philippine call centers continues to improve (Lockwood, 2012), there are still clear limitations to how the oral performance of Filipino agents is evaluated internally by call centre companies. Specialized assessment instruments, following ESP/EOP norms, broadly used by the industry are still relatively untested and many call centers maintain their own metrics that often measure agents’ language use and service quality separately (Friginal, 2007, 2009). In this study, the assessment instrument was adapted from the Melbourne Medical Students’ Diagnostic Speaking Scale (Grove & Brown, 2001) and further developed to include ESP/EOP approaches in this context of inter-cultural communication. A conveniently sampled set of recorded calls (N=100) across different task categories (e.g., troubleshooting interactions, product inquiry) was used to test the instrument for initial reliability measures. Results and analysis of the instrument’s context suitability and limitations are discussed below.

A Bridge Across the Bosphorus

Relatively few studies have focused on migrants who returned to the country of their origin or their parents’ origin. Still fewer have examined the communication patterns of call center workers who live in one country but conduct all of their business in the language and culture of another country. Drawing on work by Portes and Bourdieu, this study treats the use of traditional media and the Internet and its relation to the bridging and bonding behavior of a group of Turks who returned to Istanbul from the Netherlands and who are now employed by a Dutch call center company. Based on a survey and three focus groups of employee participants, this research finds that more recent and younger returnees primarily bond with family and friends in Holland through use of Dutch media and Internet use, whereas longer term returnees connect more with Turkish media. Some bridging was occurring through interpersonal communication with Turks by the younger and more recent arrivals.

Business Process Modelling as a synchronisation tool: improving client-provider communication in a context of service outsourcing

This paper shows how Business Process Modelling (BPM) can be used as a powerful tool for improving provider client communication in a context of service outsourcing. The objective of this approach is to reduce some of the inefficiencies and disturbances that occur in situations of organisational decoupling (outsourcing), geographical decoupling (offshoring) or both (offshore outsourcing). The findings discussed in this paper are especially relevant to situations of offshore outsourcing in which communications problems are augmented by cultural differences and geographical distance. The experience reported is part of a six months' action-research project that was carried out by the University Carlos III of Madrid's Engineering Management Group in one of the leading callcentre companies in Spain.

Working Conditions in a Selected Sample of Call Centre Companies in Sweden

Background. Call centres (CCs) are among the most rapidly growing forms of workplaces in Sweden. The purpose of the study was to describe and compare working conditions between operators at internal and external CC companies and work tasks of different complexity. Method. A questionnaire was answered by 1183 operators, 848 women and 335 men, from 28 different CCs. The questionnaire covered background factors, employment, working hours and remuneration, call logging and monitoring, duties, computer work and workplace design during the previous month. Results. Operators at external companies and operators with low-complexity work tasks were younger, more often employed by the hour and worked on a varying roster. They spent longer time on customer calls and had less varied tasks. Additional remuneration, call logging and monitoring were more common at external companies and among operators with low-complexity work tasks. Conclusion. The working conditions varied between internal and external CCs. There was also a variation in working conditions between work tasks of different complexity. There were aspects of supervision style and organization of work at CCs, especially at external ones and those with low-complexity tasks that could introduce stress and lack of well being among the staff.

Outsourced call centers and English in the Philippines

ABSTRACT: The influx of outsourced call centers from the United States to the Philippines since the late 1990s has paved the way for the creation of thousands of jobs for Filipino professionals who are able to communicate in English and provide telephone‐based customer services to American customers. The Philippines has become one of the major centers for outsourcing because of its tradition of bilingual education, affinity to the American culture, and cheap labor market. This study examined the effectiveness of micro language policies of a US‐owned call center relative to the variety of English spoken in the Philippines in preparing Filipino professionals to work in outsourced call centers. The relationship between ESL proficiency and success in delivery of support was also analyzed by comparing English communication and transaction monitoring scores of Filipino customer service representatives (N = 74) collected for over a period of seven months in 2003–4. Although the initial English scores of participants were below the expected level of proficiency set by the call center company, assessment data indicated that with proper training and effective language‐based programs, the participants exhibited improvement in English during transactions. ESL proficiency, however, only accounted for 10 per cent of the variability in the transaction monitoring scores of the participants.

Call Centre Companies and New Patterns of Organization

Call Centre Companies and New Patterns of Organization