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1 – 10 of over 1000Olukemi O. Sawyerr, Shanthi Srinivas and Sijun Wang
The challenge of attracting and retaining high performing call center employees is significant. Research in general has shown a link between personality factors and job…
Abstract
Purpose
The challenge of attracting and retaining high performing call center employees is significant. Research in general has shown a link between personality factors and job performance. This study aims to focus on examining the relationship between personality factors and performance using service performance indicators and further, to study the role of emotional exhaustion in this relationship in the context of call centers.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a structured questionnaire 194 call center employees and their supervisors were surveyed in eight call centers in five companies in the insurance and telecommunications industries.
Findings
Results using structural equation modeling showed that, with the exception of extraversion/introversion, all of the personality dimensions of the five factor model: conscientiousness, agreeableness, openness to new experience and emotional stability as well as locus of control were significantly related to one or more of the performance measures. Emotional exhaustion mediated the relationship between emotional stability and locus of control and intent to turnover.
Research limitations/implications
The study examined the mediating role of emotional exhaustion in the relationship between personality and performance; the impact of stressors needs further study.
Practical implications
Insights gained from this study could be used to develop selection strategies, work redesign programs and training that would benefit the organization by reducing employee costs and enhancing employee wellbeing.
Originality/value
This study uses service performance assessment data obtained from supervisors to establish the link between personality, emotional exhaustion and service performance among call center employees.
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Is social contact with the customer either necessary or profitable to a service industry? Does the salesgirl sell? Or, is she just a packaging‐and‐money‐taking component in a…
Abstract
Is social contact with the customer either necessary or profitable to a service industry? Does the salesgirl sell? Or, is she just a packaging‐and‐money‐taking component in a selling organisation? We have had the self‐service restaurant with us for several years, why not the self‐service pub? And in transportation, the Victoria Line is almost fully automated. Need an airline provide more than comfortable seats and a convenient schedule of flights? Just how important is it to have a pleasing social relationship with the customer? Obviously, the answers to these questions depend on a variety of factors in any given situation; and, inevitably a prime factor is the economic one. The situation for the airlines is an unusual one: market competition is constrained by the international regulation of fares and schedules and even of the type of meal service on particular routes. As a result the airlines compete in such narrow areas as the ambience of the passengers' surroundings and the social skills of their customer contact staffs.
Rosa L. Rivera-McCutchen and Nell Scharff Panero
The purpose of this paper is to examine highly detailed “low-inference” transcripts (LITs) of peer coaching conversations, drawn from two public US high schools located in New…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine highly detailed “low-inference” transcripts (LITs) of peer coaching conversations, drawn from two public US high schools located in New York City, to explore the kinds of interactions that led peers to be more reflective about their instructional practice.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the constant-comparative method of analysis, highly detailed LITs of peer coaching conversations were analyzed to identify instances where peers had what the researchers identified as an “Aha!” moment, where the peer's prior belief or opinion about their instruction and/or planning shifted. Subsequent re-coding identified specific strategies that caused the shift.
Findings
Three kinds of interactions were identified as leading to an “Aha!,” all of which involved a thoughtful and strategic use of the LITs during the coaching conversation. Conversely, findings suggested that passive use of the transcripts was less successful.
Research limitations/implications
Future research should explore the nature and staying power of the shifts in peer thinking, and the extent to which these shifts lead to instructional changes and improved student performance.
Practical implications
–LITs are a promising tool for instructional coaching. The evidence suggests when in the hands of a skilled coach the transcripts can shift teachers’ thinking in ways that are likely to improve instructional practice and thus student outcomes.
Originality/value
This study highlights the value of pairing strategic and thoughtful peer coaching with highly detailed LITs, and identifies specific kinds of interactions that lead to shifts in thinking about instruction.
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Manuela Schmidt and Erika Hansson
During the lengthy process of PhD studies, supervisory changes commonly occur for several different reasons, but their most frequent trigger is a poor supervisory relationship…
Abstract
Purpose
During the lengthy process of PhD studies, supervisory changes commonly occur for several different reasons, but their most frequent trigger is a poor supervisory relationship. Even though a change in supervisors is a formal bureaucratic process and not least the students’ rights, in practice it can be experienced as challenging. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore how doctoral students experience a change in supervisory arrangements.
Design/methodology/approach
This study highlights the voices of 19 doctoral students who experienced at least one supervisory change during their doctoral studies.
Findings
The findings were structured chronologically, revealing the students’ experiences prior, during and after the changes. In total, 12 main themes were identified. Most of the interviewed students experienced the long decision-making processes as stressful, difficult and exhausting, sometimes causing a lack of mental well-being. However, once the change was complete, they felt renewed, energized and capable of continuing with their studies. It was common to go through more than one change in supervisory arrangements. Further, the students described both the advantages of making a change yet also the long-lasting consequences of this change that could affect them long after they had completed their PhD programs.
Originality/value
The study fulfills an identified need to investigate the understudied perspective of doctoral students in the context of change in supervisory arrangements. A change in the academic culture is needed to make any changes in supervisory arrangements more acceptable thus making PhD studies more sustainable.
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Seperia Bwadene Wanyama and Samuel Eyamu
This paper aims at examining graduate research supervisors' perceptions of organizational and job supervisors' support and their influence on research completion rate. While…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims at examining graduate research supervisors' perceptions of organizational and job supervisors' support and their influence on research completion rate. While research supervision has been mainly examined from pedagogical perspectives, little emphasis has been placed on the human resource management (HRM) activity for academics. This review paper draws from organizational support and social exchange theories (SET) to examine the influence of perceived organizational support (POS) and perceived supervisor support (PSS) in research supervision work.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is a narrative literature review of identified relevant readings on organizational support and social exchange, research supervisors' perceived support and their implications for research.
Findings
Research supervisors examine their perceptions of administrative, professional, financial and socio-emotional support from their universities and job supervisors. They in turn feel obligated to reciprocate, for example, through commitment, engagement and performance, towards meeting their goals with the organization, the job supervisor and the student.
Research limitations/implications
The study relied on a literature review; hence, the findings may not reflect actual expressions of research supervisors' perceptions.
Practical implications
The paper shows the application of organizational support and social exchange theories in academic work. It emphasizes the importance of support, perception and reciprocation through an exchange relationship. The research support framework is a guide to managing the relationships among the parties involved in research work.
Originality/value
The paper considers research supervisors as key human resources (HRs) that espouse supportive HRM practices from both the organization and the job supervisor. This is unlike most studies that have employed only pedagogical approaches in explaining research. It further develops a research supervision support framework.
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Erik Borra and Bernhard Rieder
The purpose of this paper is to introduce Digital Methods Initiative Twitter Capture and Analysis Toolset, a toolset for capturing and analyzing Twitter data. Instead of just…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to introduce Digital Methods Initiative Twitter Capture and Analysis Toolset, a toolset for capturing and analyzing Twitter data. Instead of just presenting a technical paper detailing the system, however, the authors argue that the type of data used for, as well as the methods encoded in, computational systems have epistemological repercussions for research. The authors thus aim at situating the development of the toolset in relation to methodological debates in the social sciences and humanities.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors review the possibilities and limitations of existing approaches to capture and analyze Twitter data in order to address the various ways in which computational systems frame research. The authors then introduce the open-source toolset and put forward an approach that embraces methodological diversity and epistemological plurality.
Findings
The authors find that design decisions and more general methodological reasoning can and should go hand in hand when building tools for computational social science or digital humanities.
Practical implications
Besides methodological transparency, the software provides robust and reproducible data capture and analysis, and interlinks with existing analytical software. Epistemic plurality is emphasized by taking into account how Twitter structures information, by allowing for a number of different sampling techniques, by enabling a variety of analytical approaches or paradigms, and by facilitating work at the micro, meso, and macro levels.
Originality/value
The paper opens up critical debate by connecting tool design to fundamental interrogations of methodology and its repercussions for the production of knowledge. The design of the software is inspired by exchanges and debates with scholars from a variety of disciplines and the attempt to propose a flexible and extensible tool that accommodates a wide array of methodological approaches is directly motivated by the desire to keep computational work open for various epistemic sensibilities.
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Labor contracts are built on the basis of different latent premises about expectations of the organizations and the workers. Paternalism is widespread in Latin America, and its…
Abstract
Purpose
Labor contracts are built on the basis of different latent premises about expectations of the organizations and the workers. Paternalism is widespread in Latin America, and its diverse forms should be taken into account in the design of HR policies and management practices. The paper seeks to compare two Chilean banks and show that different forms of paternalism exist. As long as the organization is consistent with the premises it works with, productivity is not hindered by either form.
Design/methodology/approach
By means of a case study two banks's contractual premises are compared. Each one represents a different set of cultural expectations for the labor contracts.
Findings
Paternalistic and non paternalistic premises for labor contracts differ widely, but as long as the organization is coherent with them in its human resources policies and practices, productivity can be achieved indistinctively.
Research limitations/implications
The cases are representative of main types of organization's labor contracts, but not statistically representative. Generalizations are possible insofar as other organizations show similar cultural pre‐contractual premises.
Practical implications
Human resource management policies and practices need to be consistent with the premises underlying the labor contract and the social bond in order to allow for productivity increases.
Originality/value
Paternalism is still present in Latin American organizations, instead of dismissing it as traditional or premodern, acknowledging it will allow for organizations to act more realistically towards its labor force.
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Doris Ruth Eikhof and Chris Warhurst
The purpose of this paper is to develop a more comprehensive understanding of why social inequalities and discrimination remain in the creative industries.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop a more comprehensive understanding of why social inequalities and discrimination remain in the creative industries.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper synthesizes existing academic and industry research and data, with a particular focus on the creative media industries.
Findings
The paper reveals that existing understanding of the lack of diversity in the creative industries’ workforce is conceptually limited. Better understanding is enabled through an approach centred on the creative industries’ model of production. This approach explains why disadvantage and discrimination are systemic, not transitory.
Practical implications
The findings suggest that current policy assumptions about the creative industries are misguided and need to be reconsidered. The findings also indicate how future research of the creative industries ought to be framed.
Originality/value
The paper provides a novel synthesis of existing research and data to explain how the creative industries’ model of production translates into particular features of work and employment, which then translate into social inequalities that entrench discrimination based on sex, race and class.
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The purpose of this paper is to uncover the hidden gender consequences of three current trends in the workplace, the increase in knowledge work, information and communication…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to uncover the hidden gender consequences of three current trends in the workplace, the increase in knowledge work, information and communication technology (ICT) and work‐life balance policies.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper synthesizes and analyses existing empirical evidence from research on knowledge work, work‐life balance and boundary, women's work and careers.
Findings
Knowledge work, ICT and work‐life balance policies are found to increase the temporal and geographical flexibility of work. Such enhanced flexibility should facilitate women's participation and advancement in work and therefore gender equality. However, all three trends also have hidden gender consequences that significantly prevent women from participating and advancing.
Research limitations/implications
Research needs to explicitly integrate evidence from across research areas and disciplines to appreciate the complexity and contentiousness of current workplace developments from a gender perspective.
Practical implications
A public debate is needed that better communicates and challenges the complexity of gender issues in the twenty‐first century workplace, in order to raise critical awareness amongst individual workers, as well as practitioners and policy makers, and to lead to better informed decision making.
Originality/value
A gender‐focused analysis and synthesis of evidence across the research areas included in this paper is currently lacking. The paper thus makes a novel contribution to the academic debate on gender equality in the workplace and provides an improved basis for better informed discussions between academics, policy makers and practitioners about how to achieve gender equality in today's world of work.
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Edward Kasabov and Anna C.C.C. da Cunha
The role of call-centres during service recovery has attracted much attention in research. However, marketers know less about controlling customers during recovery interactions…
Abstract
Purpose
The role of call-centres during service recovery has attracted much attention in research. However, marketers know less about controlling customers during recovery interactions and consequences of such control. In order to address this gap and empirically ascertain whether service interactions are marked by customer centricity or by employees exerting control over customers, the aim of the authors was to organise an empirical research in two Brazilian call-centres.
Design/methodology/approach
The research consisted of direct, open observation and 33 semi-structured interviews with insiders (call-centre managers, supervisors and operatives).
Findings
Four key findings emerged during interviews with insiders. First, control over customers may be more widely practiced than assumed in certain sections of marketing academe. Second, such control is viewed positively by call-centre insiders and is sanctioned by management. Third, control does not disempower and demoralise call-centre staff but protects operatives. Finally, control does not seem to unavoidably generate lasting customer dissatisfaction. These findings are incorporated in a framework of call-centre management which incorporates control through scripting.
Research limitations/implications
The discussion calls for the revisit of certain marketing concepts and philosophies, including customer orientation, by demonstrating that control over customers is practised and should not be viewed negatively or avoided altogether in practice and as a topic of analysis. A re-conceptualisation of call-centres as sites of control over customers is proposed.
Originality/value
Control and power are rarely analysed in services marketing. This is one of a few studies that makes sense of providers' (insiders') viewpoints and argues that control may play a constructive role and should be seen as a legitimate topic of services and call-centre analysis. As such it addresses a question of intellectual and practical importance which is rarely discussed and may be viewed as incongruous with an age when customers are assumed to have rights.
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