The call center environment: The effect of cognitive load on emotional labor

Call centers enable organizations to achieve customer satisfaction by requiring their customer service representatives (CSRs) to invest their emotions into their work. Much of the extant research on emotional labor within the call center environment focuses on emotion management strategies (e.g., surface and deep acting). This dissertation emphasizes the internal threats to cognitive processes related to performing emotional labor, in order to achieve three specific aims. First, identify key organizational factors that influence the performance of emotional labor. Second, examine the relationship between the organizational factors and cognitive overload; and third, assess the effect of this relationship on CSRs' performance of emotional labor through the theoretical lens of cognitive load and emotional intelligence (EI). A systematic review of primary literature and a thematic synthesis of the findings was applied using an inductive and configuration approach. The study findings indicate that organizational factors (i.e., mandated feeling rules, low job autonomy, complex workflow technologies, and constant performance monitoring) can overload CSRs' cognitive processes, leading to poor performance of emotional labor. CSRs with high EI, however, were found better able to respond to negative external stimuli thus lessening their cognitive overload and positively affecting emotional labor performance. Based on these findings, actionable measures are proposed to address the challenges of cognitive overload on CSRs. These measures include allowing greater job autonomy for seasoned CSRs and maximizing the abilities of CSRs with high EI for emotionally charged tasks.CALL CENTER ENVIRONMENT: COGNITIVE LOAD AND EMOTIONAL LABOR 1 The Call Center Environment: The Effect of Cognitive Load on Emotional Labor Linda Barthelus A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of University of Maryland University College In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctorate of Management April 2015 Dissertation Committee: Leslie Dinauer, Ph.D. Laura Witz, Ph.D. CALL CENTER ENVIRONMENT: COGNITIVE LOAD AND EMOTIONAL LABOR 2 Acknowledgements I would like to express my gratitude to several individuals who helped make this dissertation a reality. I want to thank my manager, Dr. George Gabriel, who first planted the seed in my mind to pursue a doctorate and afforded me the flexibility to successfully complete the program. I want to express my gratitude to the four subject matter experts: Ms. Terri Britt; Ms. Pamela McCray; Ms. Dru Phelps; and Ms. Rae Smith-Watson. They each took the time to review my work early on and share unique perspectives to strengthen this dissertation. A special thank you to Ms. Dru Phelps who provided detailed and insightful feedback on the call center industry which helped me structure the dissertation in its initial stages. I would also like to thank my dissertation advisors, Drs. Laura Witz and Leslie Dinauer. Thank you very much for the tough and often frightening yet necessary feedback throughout the dissertation process and DM program. I am proud to have been under their tutelage and will always remember the guidance and encouragement I received to earn this degree. Finally, a special thank you to the best cohort ever. I remember starting the DM program in 2011 both nervous and excited, and now will be graduating together with many of them. A heart-warming thank you to Janna Witherell, Moronke Oshin-Martin, Eddie Montgomery and Thamara Barthelus (my sister) for the constant encouragement and the team effort in completing the seemingly endless assignments. CALL CENTER ENVIRONMENT: COGNITIVE LOAD AND EMOTIONAL LABOR 3 Dedication I dedicate this dissertation to my parents, Joseph and Ruth Barthelus, both of whom have taught me the importance of hard work, the value of an education, and more significantly imparted the importance of putting my faith in Jesus Christ, a constant and reliable source of spiritual strength especially during the dissertation journey. And to my five sisters and four nephews...thank you for your prayers and encouragement along the way. CALL CENTER ENVIRONMENT: COGNITIVE LOAD AND EMOTIONAL LABOR 4 Table of Contents Acknowledgement ...............................................................................................................2 Dedication... .........................................................................................................................3 List of Figures ......................................................................................................................6 List of Tables .......................................................................................................................7 Abstract ...............................................................................................................................8 Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................................................9 Problem Statement .................................................................................................20 Purpose of Study ....................................................................................................21 Importance to Management ...................................................................................22 Research Question .................................................................................................23 Definitions..............................................................................................................23 Organization of Dissertation ..................................................................................25 Chapter 2: Scoping Literature Review ...............................................................................26 The Role of Cognitive Load .................................................................................27 Emotion and Emotional Labor ...............................................................................31 Influence of Organizational Factors on Emotional Labor .....................................40 The Role of Emotional Intelligence .......................................................................55 Chapter 3: Methodology ....................................................................................................65 Chapter 4: Results, Discussion and Implications ...............................................................86 Chapter 5: Conceptual Framework ....................................................................................96 Chapter 6: Practical Recommendation...............................................................................98 References ........................................................................................................................105 CALL CENTER ENVIRONMENT: COGNITIVE LOAD AND EMOTIONAL LABOR 5 Appendices .......................................................................................................................115 Appendix A: Table of Search Categories and the Search Strings Used ..............115 Appendix B: Table of the 18 Databases Accessed ..............................................117 Appendix C: Table of 57 Journals Used in Study................................................118 Appendix D: Table of CASP Screening Quality Questions ................................121 Appendix E: SMEs Names and Biographies .......................................................122 Appendix F: Survey Responses on Dissertation Topic’s Relevancy and Practicality from Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) ...................................123 CALL CENTER ENVIRONMENT: COGNITIVE LOAD AND EMOTIONAL LABOR 6 List of Figures Figure 1: Example of a typical call center .......................................................................11 Figure 2: Example of a panopticon tower within a prison building ................................18 Figure 3: Infographic of Zajonc Affective Primacy theory .............................................34 Figure 4: The relationship between organizational factors and emotional labor ............41 Figure 5: A sample chat interaction between a supervisor and a CSR ............................49 Figure 6: A sample call evaluation form .........................................................................50 Figure 7: The ‘qualictivity’ graph. ..................................................................................52 Figure 8: ACD employee work performance statistics ...................................................53 Figure 9: Graphic based on Goleman’s (1998) five components of EI at work..............59 Figure 10: The relationship between self-awareness, self-regulation and ability to manage one’s emotions ....................................................................................60 Figure 11: Dynamic relationship between evidence review, synthesis and evidence-based decision-making .....................................................................................66 Figure 12: Systematic review flowchart strategy adapted from PRISMA (2013) .............69 Figure 13: The stages in the thematic synthesis process....................................................83 Figure 14: Concept model displaying the relationship among organizational factors, cognitive load, emotional labor and EI ............................................................97 CALL CENTER ENVIRONMENT: COGNITIVE LOAD AND EMOTIONAL LABOR 7 List of Tables Table 1: Example of search strings used............................................................................70 Table 2: Translation in terms of criteria for qualitative and quantitative research ............73 Table 3: Sample assessment of a study using CASP appraisal tool ..................................75 Table 4: Extraction of data .................................................................................................77 Table 5: Lists of eight descriptive themes .........................................................................80 Table 6: Cognitive Overload Reduction Plan ..................................................................102 CALL CENTER ENVIRONMENT: COGNITIVE LOAD AND EMOTIONAL LABOR 8 The Call Center Environment: The Effect of Cognitive Load on Emotional Labor Abstract Call centers enable organizations to achieve customer satisfaction by requiring their customer service representatives (CSRs) to invest their emotions into their work. Much of the extant research on emotional labor within the call center environment focuses on emotion management strategies (e.g., surface and deep acting). This dissertation emphasizes the internal threats to cognitive processes related to performing emotional labor, in order to achieve three specific aims. First, identify key organizational factors that influence the performance of emotional labor. Second, examine the relationship between the organizational factors and cognitive overload; and third, assess the effect of this relationship on CSRs’ performance of emotional labor through the theoretical lens of cognitive load and emotional intelligence (EI). A systematic review of primary literature and a thematic synthesis of the findings was applied using an inductive and configuration approach. The study findings indicate that organizational factors (i.e., mandated feeling rules, low job autonomy, complex workflow technologies, and constant performance monitoring) can overload CSRs’ cognitive processes, leading to poor performance of emotional labor. CSRs with high EI, however, were found better able to respond to negative external stimuli thus lessening their cognitive overload and positively affecting emotional labor performance. Based on these findings, actionable measures are proposed to address the challenges of cognitive overload on CSRs. These measures include allowing greater job autonomy for seasoned CSRs and maximizing the abilities of CSRs with high EI for emotionally charged tasks. Keywords: Organizational factors, call center employees, cognitive load, emotional labor, emotional intelligence and customer satisfaction CALL CENTER ENVIRONMENT: COGNITIVE LOAD AND EMOTIONAL LABOR 9 Chapter 1: Introduction “I suffer from mental fatigue; your brain gets overloaded. Although taking enquiries is not necessarily a difficult job, it is when you get all these culminating factors coming through, mostly the repetitiveness, call after call, and you get annoyed about something and you just think ‘no’! . . . As a home insurance advisor, I use the same script, so you do the same thing every day, repeating the same things, asking the same questions, getting the same answers back” (Taylor & Bain, 1999, p. 109). The above excerpt is taken from the statement of a home insurance advisor who participated in a study that focused on the mental stress and emotional exhaustion employees commonly face within service industries. The excerpt provides the origin of the management problem that this dissertation addresses within the call center environment. This chapter begins by exploring the call center environment, followed by the problem statement and the purpose of this dissertation. Following a discussion on the significance of the study for management, the research question driving this dissertation is stated. Finally, the key terms are defined, and the organization of the remaining chapters of this dissertation is outlined. The Call Center Business What is a call center? Call centers were first introduced in the 1980s (Rijo, Varajao, & Goncalves, 2012), as organizations saw the benefits of providing a centralized approach to interaction with customers (Batt, 2000). The typical arrangement of a call center includes a set of resources that allow for services to be delivered via the telephone, comprising of (a) employees dedicated to responding to inquiries via the telephone, often referred to as telephone agents or customer service representatives (CSRs); (b) customers CALL CENTER ENVIRONMENT: COGNITIVE LOAD AND EMOTIONAL LABOR 10 who utilize the services the organization provides; and (c) a cluster of information systems, including computer and telephone technology tools that facilitate the delivery and management of service (Rijo et al., 2012). Call centers may be referred to as contact centers, although these are distinct concepts. Call centers focus on primarily providing inbound (incoming phone calls from prospective or existing customers) and outbound (outgoing phone calls to prospective and existing customers) services via the telephone only (Akşin, Armony, & Mehrotra, 2007). In contrast, contact centers utilize other channels of communication—such as online chat, video conferencing, e-mail, and instant messaging—with service customers (Rijo et al., 2012). Call centers typically have a flat organizational structure, with the CSRs—mostly young females—at the bottom level (Robinson & Morley, 2007). The next level consists of team leaders and/or supervisors, supervising the day-to-day activities and quality of work of the CSRs. A manager or director is usually at the next and the highest level in the call center organization. The work design of call centers has been labeled as “teams without teamwork” (Russell, 2008, p. 198). The physical setup of a call center department is often a large open space in which CSRs are often found working in multiple rows of small cubicles, separated from their coworkers by panels on each side (Russell, 2008). As seen in Figure 1, within each of these cubicles, CSRs are provided a work desk, a chair, and the necessary complex hardware and software applications, in addition to other tools required for performing their tasks (Russell, 2008). Varied work shifts, including full-time but mostly part-time, designed to respond to customer demand (Robinson & Morley, 2007), CALL CENTER ENVIRONMENT: COGNITIVE LOAD AND EMOTIONAL LABOR 11 allow managers to maximize the use of each cubicle, which is shared by several CSRs. Furthermore, CSRs are expected to master workflow technologies—a computer with one or more monitor screens and a telephone system—to perform all tasks effectively and efficiently during the assigned work times within the confines of their cubicles. Figure 1. An example of the typical call center office cubicles. Reprinted from iStock/Getty Images, by L. Barthelus, 2015, Retrieved from www.iStock.com. Copyright [2015] by Vasilyev D. Reprinted with permission. A call center is a business activity that plays an integral part in all industry sectors, including the public, private, and government sectors (Batt, 2000). The number and size of call centers have increased exponentially, even as the need for manufacturing and agricultural labor decreased, because the service sector created a demand for face-to-face and/or voice-to-voice communication with customers (Leidner, 1999). Consequently, call centers have become “efficient vehicles for managing the customer interface” (Batt, 2000, p. 542). CALL CENTER ENVIRONMENT: COGNITIVE LOAD AND EMOTIONAL LABOR 12 The relationship between the CSR and the customer is a distinct feature that differentiates service work from other types of labor, such as manufacturing (Batt, 2000). The interaction between CSRs and customers is a critical business activity because it allows organizations to generate, support, and retain customers, thus allowing them to build a loyal and satisfied customer base (Batt, 2000). For this reason, CSRs interact with customers in diverse business sectors, including debt collection departments of credit card companies, sales departments of telemarketing organizations, or benefits departments for pharmaceutical or insurance companies. Differing views on call center work. Researchers exploring the characteristics of call center work practices offer differing views on call center work, depending on the time period and the sector studied. Early Tayloristic views of call centers are still shared by many authors, with call centers being seen as sweatshops (Hechanova, 2012; Leidner, 1999; Taylor & Bain, 1999) in which workers are vigilantly monitored and have little to no autonomy or task control (Cossette & Hess, 2009; Pierre & Tremblay, 2011). Other researchers have a more optimistic view, suggesting that call centers provide solid, information-related job opportunities, high compensation, job autonomy, and minimal performance monitoring in a skilled and entrepreneurial environment (Batt, 2000; Rose & Wright, 2005). A third view considered the socioeconomic evolution from the industrial age to the service and information age and how the role of call centers evolved from being only a volume-driven business activity to having a service quality focus (Leidner, 1999; Russell, 2008). This evolution has created a struggle between two organizational goals: (a) efficiency, with the cost of inputs being expected to be kept low while outputs are maximized, and (b) effectiveness, delivering and maintaining a high level of quality CALL CENTER ENVIRONMENT: COGNITIVE LOAD AND EMOTIONAL LABOR 13 service to customers (Akşin et al., 2007). These competing objectives create an environment in which the work performed by CSRs has a significant impact. Finally, call center researchers Robinson and Morley (2007) presented a hybrid view of the social structure of call centers, taking the position that certain elements from each of the aforementioned perspectives of call center work coexist. The hybrid view postulates that (a) call center managers are driven to operate their call centers efficiently and effectively to ensure customer satisfaction and (b) call centers have created a more stable work environment for both low and skilled workers; however, (c) additional factors elicit an inflexible and controlled work environment for CSRs (Robinson & Morley, 2007). This hybrid view is used to support the purpose of this research because it provides a broader understanding of the challenges managers face in operating a call center operation, particularly customer satisfaction. Why is customer satisfaction a challenge for call center managers? Customer satisfaction, one of the primary external forces driving the competitive service industry, is the perception customers have of the level of quality of service they received (Anderson & Sullivan, 1993; Dormann & Kaiser, 2002; Parasuraman, Zeithaml, & Berry, 1988). The inability to meet the service quality expectations of customers can lead to customer dissatisfaction, potentially having an immediate and negative effect on an organization’s bottom line. In recognition of the need to secure and maintain customer satisfaction, many organizations have taken advantage of call centers by incorporating proprietary operations or outsourcing those activities to other companies domestically or internationally. For example, Dell, Inc., a provider of personal computers, has utilized CALL CENTER ENVIRONMENT: COGNITIVE LOAD AND EMOTIONAL LABOR 14 call centers in India to support its existing customer base. Moreover, with the decreasing cost of information and communication technology (ICT), call center economic activity has grown significantly in many countries like Canada, where the call center industry revenue has increased from 424 million to 2.76 billion between 1998 and 2006 (Marcoux, 2012). The Philippines, a country with over 350,000 call center workers, generated over $6.3 billion in revenue in 2010 (Hechanova, 2012). Therefore, call centers have become a vehicle for organizations, with “over 80% of all customer interactions occurring through call centers and six million service employees worldwide” (Banks & Roodt, 2011, p. 56). The customer satisfactio