Inbound Call Centers and Emotional Dissonance in the Job Demands - Resources Model

The role of supervisor support for dealing with customer verbal aggression. Differences between ethnic minority and ethnic majority workers

Customer verbal aggression is a core social stressor among retail workers which impairs wellbeing via emotional dissonance. This study examined two moderators—supervisor support and ethnic minority status—in this well-established relationship. In addition, it tested a moderated moderated mediation model to explore whether the moderation effects of supervisor support on the indirect relationship between customer verbal aggression and wellbeing (measured as positive affect) via emotional dissonance vary between ethnic minority and ethnic majority workers. Retail workers of one retail chain ( N = 603) completed our paper-pencil survey at two measurement points. Path modeling showed that emotional dissonance mediates between customer verbal aggression and positive affect. Taken alone, neither supervisor support nor ethnic minority status moderated this relationship. However, their combination had a significant moderating effect; supervisor support moderated the indirect effect of customer verbal aggression on positive affect through emotional dissonance only among ethnic minority workers. Surprisingly, supervisor support amplified this mediation. We discuss our findings by considering the role of supervisor support and the status of ethnic minority workers.

Emotional Dissonance, Job Stress, and Intrinsic Motivation of Married Women Working in Call Centers: The Roles of Work Overload and Work-Family Conflict

This research was designed to test and extend the model of emotional dissonance. Previous models of emotional dissonance, such as the Job Demand-Resource (JD-R) and the Stress-Strain-Outcome (SSO) models, are limited in that they do not account for the influences of work and work–family-related conflicts. The present paper focused on emotional labor carried out by married women working in call centers. We developed the model of emotional dissonance influencing intrinsic motivation and job stress, with the moderating effects of work overload and work–family conflict. The data of 468 employees analyzed using least square regression showed that that emotional dissonance is positively related to job stress, but is negatively related to intrinsic motivation. Both work overload and work–family conflict were found to be significant moderators that aggravate the positive relationships between emotional dissonance and job stress, and the negative relationships between emotional dissonance and intrinsic motivation. Theoretical and practical implications on emotional labor and emotional dissonance are discussed.

Moral Distress in Community and Hospital Settings for the Care of Elderly People. A Grounded Theory Qualitative Study

Background: Moral distress has frequently been investigated in single healthcare settings and concerning a single type of professional. This study aimed to describe the experience of moral distress in all the types of professionals providing daily care to elderly patients and residents. Methods: The Grounded Theory approach, developed by Corbin and Strauss, was used. This study included participants from hospital and nursing homes of northern Italy. Purposive and theoretical sampling was used. Between December 2020 and April 2021, semi-structured interviews were conducted. Results: Thirteen participants were included in the study. Four categories were derived from the data: talking and listening, care provider wellbeing, decision making, protective factors, and potential solutions. The core category identified was “sharing daily”. Interviewees confirm how hard it may be to communicate to the elderly, but at the same time, how adequate communication with the leader is a protective factor of moral distress. They also confirm how communication is key to managing or downsizing misunderstandings at all levels. Findings highlight the scarcity of operators as a fundamental trigger of moral distress. Conclusions: Many determinants of this phenomenon lie behind the direct control of professionals, but education can help them learn how to prevent, manage, or downsize the consequences.

Emotion Work: A Work Psychology Perspective

Emotion work, the management of feelings and emotional displays in response to emotion work requirements, can have both positive and negative effects on well-being and performance. Adopting a work psychology perspective and drawing on work stress and work design literatures, we outline an expanded model of emotion work, regarding emotion work requirements as job characteristics and as part of broader task requirements. The challenge-hindrance stressors framework helps explain positive effects of emotion work in terms of professional role fulfillment. We emphasize the importance of negative events and negative emotions for outcomes of surface acting conditions, and we highlight the often-neglected role of automatic emotion regulation in emotion work. Research on culture suggests that existing results are mostly valid for Western cultures. Practical and research implications refer to a stronger emphasis on conditions at work in general, including stressors and resources, which together determine the meaning of emotion work conditions.

Do the work unit characteristics directly or indirectly affect psychological distress in female call-handlers?

PURPOSE

This study aimed to test if work unit characteristics (WUCs) reported by call-center managers were directly related to the psychological distress reported by call-handlers or if these associations were mediated by the psychosocial working conditions (PWC).

METHODS

Managers of 105 call-centers were interviewed about their call-center's WUCs by occupational physicians. 2719 female call-handlers from these call-centers completed self-reported questionnaires to evaluate PWC (Karasek, Siegrist, and other specific workplace stressors) and psychological distress (GHQ12 score). A two-level analysis tested the relationships between the 14 WUCs and GHQ12 score, with and without adding PWC as confounders. Unchanged coefficients between WUCs and GHQ12 score were assumed to flag a direct association between WUCs and psychological distress. In the case of changed coefficients, the mediated proportion was estimated using multiple mixed models.

RESULTS

Five out of fourteen WUCs were related to GHQ12 score: outbound-call type, call-center size, number of activity parameters displayed on the screen, the existence of a fixed break, and the assigned role of the supervisor being the monitoring/supervision of call-handler activities. After adding PWC, the association remained statistically significant only for outbound calls. For the other WUCs, the proportion of mediation by stressor ranged from 56 to 66%. Mediation was mostly through job demand, lack of reward and ethical conflict dimensions.

CONCLUSION

The main results were that (1) associations exist between the WUCs reported by managers and the psychological distress reported by call-handlers, and (2) that most of these associations are mediated by psychosocial working conditions.

Emotional Labour and Work-Family Conflict in Voice-to-Voice and Face-to-Face Customer Relations: A Multi-Group Study in Service Workers

Professions that involve interaction with customers entail great emotional effort: workers are required to show emotions different from their true feeling and they experienced emotional dissonance and verbal aggression from customers. These job demands can generate discomfort and the effects of emotional labour can "expand" in other life domains. The study investigated the relationship among emotional dissonance, customer verbal aggression, affective discomfort at work and work-family conflict, considering differences between two groups of service workers: call centre agents (CA; N = 507, voice-to-voice relation with customers) and supermarket cashiers (SC; N = 444, face-to-face relation with customers). Results showed that emotional dissonance and customer verbal aggression had a positive relationship with work-family conflict, the mediational role of affective discomfort emerged in both groups; different effects of job demands in subsamples appeared. Suggestions for organisations and work processes emerged in order to identify practical implications useful to support employees in coping with emotional labour and to promote well-being and work-family balance.

The fish rots from the head down: a test of the trickle-down model of abusive supervision

Purpose

A major paradigm shift focusing on the dark side of leadership has generated lots of concern for organizations as leadership has cascading effects on employees’ behaviour. This study aims to understand negative behaviours in the organization as a system of interrelated interaction initiated from the top which trickles down to employees.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on the theories of social exchange and norms of reciprocity, social learning and displaced aggression, this study models how and when abusive supervision relates to employees’ task performance. The model is empirically tested and extended to cover mediation and moderation processes. Drawing data from 218 bank supervisors and employees, this study uses the structural equation modelling to analyse a trickle-down model of abusive supervision.

Findings

Results from multi-waved, multi-sourced data indicated a mediating effect on the abusive supervision–performance relationships and provided support for employees’ guilt proneness and emotional dissonance as moderators. Overall, the results provided support for a moderated mediation relationship in the trickle-down model.

Originality/value

This study provides new knowledge into the potential boundary conditions of employees’ guilt proneness and emotional dissonance in affecting the relationship between abusive supervision, counterproductive work behaviour and task performance.

Behaviors also Trickle Back: An Assessment of Customer Dysfunctional Behavior on Employees and Customers

This study examined the trickle in, out, around and trickle back effect of dysfunctional customer behavior on employees and consequently employees’ incivility and service recovery efforts toward customers. Furthermore, this study has specifically tested the mediating effect of employee burnout to examine the trickle around and trickle back effect. To explore the multi-level trickle effect, this study has collected data from two sources, i.e., customers and employees. The data was analyzed with the help of AMOS. The results revealed that customer’s verbal aggression escalates employee’s burnout, which in turn affects employee’s incivility towards customers. However, the indirect paths from disproportionate customer demand toward service recovery efforts and employee’s incivility towards customers were found to be insignificant. This study addressed the existing gap in the literature by examining the trickle effect within and outside the boundaries of an organization. The results of this study laid down some useful managerial and theoretical implications.

The Effects of Service Employee Resilience on Emotional Labor: Double-Mediation of Person-Job Fit and Work Engagement

This study examined the effect of service employees’ resilience on deep acting in the job demands–resources model (JD-R model). It set and verified person–job fit and work engagement as double-mediation factors between service employees’ resilience and deep acting. To accomplish this, surveys targeting service employees working in the retail finance industry in Korea were administered. The analysis showed that resilience significantly increased person–job fit, and person–job fit improved work engagement. Additionally, it showed that work engagement improved deep acting. With regard to the double-mediation effect, the direct effect of resilience on deep acting was not statistically significant, but the double-mediation effect through person–job fit and work engagement was significant. In other words, person–job fit and work engagement fully mediated the relationship between resilience and deep acting. Additionally, person–job fit alone did not mediate the relationship between resilience and deep acting, but the independent mediation effect of work engagement was significant.

Mindfulness and emotional exhaustion in call center agents in the Philippines: moderating roles of work and personal characteristics

This research explored the association between the mindfulness of call center agents in the Philippines and the level of emotional exhaustion they experienced. The study also contributes to the literature by investigating the role of call center agents' work (job demands and supervisory position) and personal characteristics (age and marital status) as moderating factors that might influence the effect of mindfulness on emotional exhaustion. Survey data were collected from 412 call center agents from 5 call center companies in the Philippines. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used for data analysis. The results supported a negative association between mindfulness and emotional exhaustion. Moreover, the analysis of the moderating effect found that the negative effect of mindfulness on emotional exhaustion was particularly strong for call center agents who: (1) experienced high job demands; (2) held a supervisory position; (3) were single, and (4) were younger.

Emotional Dissonance in the Spanish Services Sector: The Role of Support in the Workplace

The purpose of this study was twofold. The first aim was to analyze the detrimental effect that emotional dissonance may have on service workers by testing its relationship with job satisfaction, intention to leave the organization, and organizational deviance. The second was to test whether two types of social support (i.e., co-worker and organizational support) and their combination moderate these relationships from a multilevel perspective. The sample was composed of 556 employees from Spanish service sector. Using random coefficient models analyses, results showed, first, that emotional dissonance was related to lower levels of job satisfaction (PE = -.1, p < .05) and higher levels of intention to leave the organization (PE = .12, p < .05); second, that co-worker support moderate the relationship between emotional dissonance and job satisfaction (PE = .10, p < .05), organizational deviance (PE = -.08, p < .05), and intention to leave the organization (PE = -.13, p < .05); third, organizational support, conceptualized as a collective construct at organizational level, moderate the relationship between emotional dissonance and organizational deviance (PE = -.08, p < .05); and finally, the combination of both types of support do not explained additional variance of the emotional dissonance-outcomes relation. These results underline the need to take into consideration different source of social support and their levels of analysis to better understand emotional dissonance and its outcomes.

"Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda". Workers' Proactivity in the Association between Emotional Demands and Mental Health

The present study aimed to explore the mediating role of hostile customer relations in the association between emotional dissonance and workers’ mental health. Moreover, the moderating role of proactive personality as a buffer against hostile customer relations was assessed. Emotional demands become crucial within professions that involve a direct relationship with clients and, if poorly managed, can negatively affect workers’ health and performance. Accordingly, data were collected on a sample of n = 918 mass-retail employees working for one of the leading Italian supermarket companies. Most participants were women (62.7%) with a mean age = 40.38 (SD = 7.68). The results of a moderated mediation analysis revealed that emotional dissonance was related to more hostile customer relations that, in turn, were associated with higher rates of mental health symptoms. Proactive personality emerged as a protecting factor that prevented the onset of conflicts with clients, particularly among workers experiencing high levels of emotional dissonance. The identification of resources enabling management of emotional demands could suggest suitable adaptive strategies for customer-facing roles, thus preventing the occurrence of adverse mental health symptoms.

Organizational Culture and Job Demands and Resources: Their Impact on Employees' Wellbeing in a Multivariate Multilevel Model

(1) The present study aims to explore the impact of job demands and resources (JDR), personal resources, and the organizational culture on workers' wellbeing and health. (2) A cross-sectional survey of Spanish workers in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) was conducted with a sample of 1599 workers from 154 SMEs. A multivariate multilevel analysis was performed to analyze the different relationships. (3) In light of the results obtained, we observed that job demands were negatively associated with workers' health, while job resources were positively correlated to workers' health and wellbeing. Secondly, the different types of identification at work are positively related to job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs), but the intensity of this association differs with the form of identification. Finally, at the organization level, the dimensions of organizational culture are related differently to employees' job satisfaction, OCBs, and health; (4) these results confirm the role of organizational culture and its association with desirable outcomes, allowing us to expand the JDR model.

The Evaluation of Organizational Well-Being in An Italian Teaching Hospital Using the ANAC Questionnaire

In Italy, the Italian National Anti-Corruption Authority (Autorità Nazionale Anti-corruzione—ANAC) has developed a questionnaire to assess the organizational well-being of employees within public agencies. The study aimed to explore the relationship among variables in the ANAC questionnaire: Several job resources (lack of discrimination, fairness, career and professional development, job autonomy, and organizational goals’ sharing) and outcomes of well-being at work, such as health and safety at work and sense of belonging. The research was carried out among workers in an Italian hospital in Northwest Italy (N = 1170), through an online self-report questionnaire. Data were grouped into two job categories: Clinical staff (N = 939) and non-clinical staff (N = 231). The hypothesized model was tested across the two groups through multi-group structural equation modeling. Results showed that health and safety at work and sense of belonging had significant positive relationships with the other variables; some differences emerged between the determinants of the two outcomes and among groups. The study aims to identify some reflections and suggestions regarding the assessment of well-being in the health care sector; implications for practice are identified to promote organizational well-being and health in organizations.

Relationship Bonds and Service Provider's Emotional Labor: Moderating Effects of Collectivism

Since service providers directly conduct emotional labor to customers, it is important to identify the factors influencing emotional labor of service providers. Even though the studies identifying the predisposing factors influencing emotional labor are taking place, there is no empirical evidence confirming how relationship bonds, which have been established between corporations and service providers, are related to emotional labor. This study examined the influences of relationship bonds on emotional labor through person-organization fit (P-O fit) and the moderating effects of collectivism between P-O fit and emotional labor. Analysis was conducted by performing questionnaire surveys targeting 350 employees in the financial industry. As a result of the analysis, it has been found that financial bonds, social bonds, and structural bonds enhanced P-O fit and P-O fit improved deep acting. In addition, this study identified that collectivism of service providers strengthened the influence of P-O fit toward deep acting. This study not only suggested the empirical evidence identifying the process of relationship bonds influencing emotional labor but also expanded the scope of study by examining moderating roles of collectivism in cultural psychology aspect.

Is Deep Acting Prevalent in Socially Responsible Companies? The Effects of CSR Perception on Emotional Labor Strategies

This study examines the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) perception and emotional labor strategies, and the effects of the interaction between CSR perception and moral identification on emotional labor strategies via affective organizational commitment. Our data from 352 frontline employees in the service industry show the main effect of CSR perception on emotional labor strategies. We find that CSR perception is positively (negatively) related to deep acting (surface acting). Affective organizational commitment mediates the relationship between CSR perception and surface acting but not between CSR perception and deep acting. Moral identification moderates the effects of CSR perception on surface acting through affective organizational commitment. This paper reveals that the employees' views on their organization's social responsiveness and morality affect their emotional labor strategies.

Surface Acting, Emotional Exhaustion, and Employee Sabotage to Customers: Moderating Roles of Quality of Social Exchanges

Using the conservation of resources theory and social exchange theory as our conceptual frameworks, the current study examined how employee surface acting relates to their sabotage to customers through the mediating role of emotional exhaustion and explored the moderating roles of coworker exchange (CWX) and leader-member exchange (LMX). We collected two-wave time-lagged data from 540 clinical nurses and found that emotional exhaustion mediated the positive relationship between surface acting and employee sabotage to customers. In addition, we found that CWX buffered the positive effect of surface acting on emotional exhaustion, while LMX buffered the positive effect of emotional exhaustion on employee sabotage to customers, such that the effects were weaker when CWX and LMX were higher, respectively. These findings shed light on the effect of surface acting on employee harmful behaviors, the potential underlying mechanism, and boundary conditions to mitigate the negative consequences of surface acting.

[The evaluation of organizational well-being in the public sector: an integration of the ANAC questionnaire]

BACKGROUND

In Italy, the work-related stress and organizational well-being evaluation is subject to specific norms and regulations. The Italian National Anti-Corruption Authority (Autorità Nazionale Anticorruzione - ANAC) has developed a questionnaire to assess the organizational well-being of the employees in Public Administration Institutions.

OBJECTIVES

The study aims to analyse, according to the Job Demands-Resources Theory, the relationship between some job demands (workload, discrimination) and job resources (supervisors and colleagues support, job autonomy, fairness, career opportunities, membership), and some outcomes (work-related stress, emotional exhaustion, job satisfaction).

METHODS

The research involved a public administration and was conducted through a self-report questionnaire (N=414, 60% of the employees). The ANAC questionnaire was integrated with measures from national and international literature on the topic of well-being and stress at work.

RESULTS

Multiple regression analyses highlighted the relationship between outcomes, job demands and resources. Work-related stress showed a positive relation with demands (work load β coefficient=0.22; perceived discrimination β=0.14) and a negative one with some resources (supervisors' support β=-0.21 and membership β=-0.11). Emotional exhaustion had a negative relationship with some job resources, specifically career opportunities (β=-0.14), autonomy (β=-0.21) and membership (β=-0.25). Job satisfaction showed a positive relationship with all job resources considered.

CONCLUSIONS

The study seeks to integrate the assessment of well-being and work-related stress thus highlighting the importance of linking the different outcomes with job demands and resources. The results identify possible practices to promote well-being in the organization.

Turnover intentions in a call center: The role of emotional dissonance, job resources, and job satisfaction

BACKGROUND

Turnover intentions refer to employees' intent to leave the organization and, within call centers, it can be influenced by factors such as relational variables or the perception of the quality of working life, which can be affected by emotional dissonance. This specific job demand to express emotions not felt is peculiar in call centers, and can influence job satisfaction and turnover intentions, a crucial problem among these working contexts. This study aims to detect, within the theoretical framework of the Job Demands-Resources Model, the role of emotional dissonance (job demand), and two resources, job autonomy and supervisors' support, in the perception of job satisfaction and turnover intentions among an Italian call center.

METHOD

The study involved 318 call center agents of an Italian Telecommunication Company. Data analysis first performed descriptive statistics through SPSS 22. A path analysis was then performed through LISREL 8.72 and tested both direct and indirect effects.

RESULTS

Results suggest the role of resources in fostering job satisfaction and in decreasing turnover intentions. Emotional dissonance reveals a negative relation with job satisfaction and a positive relation with turnover. Moreover, job satisfaction is negatively related with turnover and mediates the relationship between job resources and turnover.

CONCLUSION

This study contributes to extend the knowledge about the variables influencing turnover intentions, a crucial problem among call centers. Moreover, the study identifies theoretical considerations and practical implications to promote well-being among call center employees. To foster job satisfaction and reduce turnover intentions, in fact, it is important to make resources available, but also to offer specific training programs to make employees and supervisors aware about the consequences of emotional dissonance.

New Technologies Smart, or Harm Work-Family Boundaries Management? Gender Differences in Conflict and Enrichment Using the JD-R Theory

Background: The relationship between technology-assisted supplemental work and well-being outcomes is a recent issue in scientific literature. Whether the use of technology for work purpose in off-work time may have a positive or negative impact on work-family balance remains an open question and the role of gender in this relationship is poorly understood.

Aim: According to the JD-R theory, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between off-work hours technology assisted job demand (off-TAJD) and both work-family conflict (WFC) and work-family enrichment (WFE). Moreover, it considered two general job demands, workload and emotional dissonance, and one job resource, supervisory coaching.

Method: The hypotheses were tested with a convenience sample of 671 workers. Data were collected with a self-report questionnaire and analyzed with SPSS 23 and through multi-group structural equation model (SEM) (Mplus 7).

Results: The estimated SEM [Chi-square (510) = 1041.29; p < 0.01; CFI = 0.95; TLI = 0.95; RMSEA = 0.06 (0.05, 0.06); SRMR = 0.05. M = 319/F = 352] showed that off-TAJD was positively related to WFC in both subsamples; off-TAJD was positively related also to WFE only in the Male group. Workload was positively related to WFC in both Male and Female subsamples. Emotional dissonance was positively related to WFC in both subsamples and was negatively related to WFE. Supervisory coaching was strongly, positively related to WFE in both groups, and only in the Male subsample presented a low negative relationship with WFC.

Conclusion: This study contributes to the literature on new challenges in work-life interface by analyzing the association between off-TAJD and WFC and Enrichment. Our findings suggest it is important to pay attention to gender differences in the study of the impact of supplemental work carried out during off-work hours using technology on the work-life interface. In fact, employee perception of Company demands of being available during off-work time, with the use of technology, may have different consequences for men and women, indicating potential differences in the centrality of the working role. Practical implications, at both cultural and organizational levels, should address the use of technology during leisure time.