Work characteristics, musculoskeletal disorders, and the mediating role of psychological strain: A study of call center employees.

Sprigg, Christine A.; Stride, Chris; Wall, Toby D.; Holman, David; Smith, Phoebe R.

doi:10.1037/0021-9010.92.5.1456

Cited by 92 publications

(81 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…Numerous studies have examined productivity, workrelated stress, musculoskeletal disorders and caller quality service issues in call-center workers [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] . For instance, Burton et al 12) indicated that productivity decreases as the health risks faced by call center operators increase.…”

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Perceived Job Stress and Health Complaints at a Bank Call Center: Comparison between Inbound and Outbound Services

et al. 2010

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[[abstract]]This study investigated how perceived job stress and health status differ, as well as the relationships to inbound (incoming calls) versus outbound (outgoing calls) calling activities, for call center workers in a bank in Taiwan. The sample bank employed 289 call center workers at the time of the survey, ranging in age from 19 to 54 yr old. Data were obtained on individual factors, health complaints, perceived level job stress, and major job stressors. Overall, 33.5% of outbound operators and 27.1% of inbound operators reported frequently or always experiencing high stress at work, however, the differences between inbound and outbound operators were insignificant. “Having to deal with difficult customers” was the most frequent job stressor for all workers. Musculoskeletal discomfort, eye strain, and hoarse or sore throat were the most prevalent complaints among call center workers. The relationship between perceived job stress and health complaints indicated that workers who perceived higher job stress had significantly increased risk of multiple health problems, including eye strain, tinnitus, hoarse or sore throat, chronic cough with phlegm, chest tightness, irritable stomach or peptic ulcers, and musculoskeletal discomfort (with odds ratios ranging from 2.13 to 8.24). These analytical results suggest that perceived job stress in the call center profoundly affected worker health. This study identified main types of job stressors requiring further investigation

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Perceived Job Stress and Health Complaints at a Bank Call Center: Comparison between Inbound and Outbound Services

et al. 2010

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“…De nombreuses recherches ont étudié les services à la clientèle en lien avec des éléments de la charge de travail et la santé (Sznelwar et al, 1999;Sprigg et al, 2007;Moller et al, 2008;Chouanière, Boini et Colin, 2011). On y atteste une exigence psychologique élevée, une faible latitude décisionnelle, une forte exigence émotionnelle en lien avec la confrontation avec les clients de toutes sortes et une dissonance émotionnelle, car les agents doivent toujours afficher des émotions positives.…”

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Contribution à un modèle explicatif de la charge de travail : le cas du service à la clientèle

Fournier

Montreuil

Villa

2013

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La rapidité des changements qui s’opèrent dans les organisations engendre une intensification du travail qui se traduit par une augmentation de la charge de travail. La littérature scientifique identifie de plus en plus clairement la charge de travail comme un facteur de risques dont les répercussions affectent les individus et les organisations. Bien que les connaissances actuelles portant sur la charge de travail permettent de quantifier des conséquences humaines ou organisationnelles, elles sont difficiles à utiliser pour agir dans l’amélioration des situations de travail. Cet article a pour objectif de contribuer à la modélisation de la charge de travail dans sa globalité et sa complexité à l’intérieur de la dynamique de l’individu, de son activité professionnelle et de son contexte organisationnel. Elle vise à définir des composantes de la charge de travail et à cerner des facteurs qui l’influencent directement ou indirectement à partir de situations de travail réelles. Une recherche terrain s’est déroulée dans une organisation du secteur de l’assurance auprès de préposés au service à la clientèle en privilégiant des observations, des entretiens individuels et de groupe. Les activités réelles de travail des préposés ont été analysées en privilégiant le modèle de l’activité réelle de travail tel qu’utilisé en ergonomie. Cinq facteurs dynamiques de la charge de travail émergent de la recherche et ils permettent de réviser et d’enrichir un modèle explicatif de la charge de travail.Rapidly changing organizations are associated with work intensification which translates into workload problems. Scientific literature has clearly identified workload as an important risk factor for individuals and for organizations. Though current knowledge on workload allows for the measurement of its impacts on individuals and on organizations, it is still difficult to clearly identify its nature and to improve working conditions accordingly. The objective of this paper is to contribute additional information to a workload framework applied to work situations where individual characteristics, professional activity and organizational contexts are all determinants of a complex and dynamic work situation. The goal of this study is to improve knowledge on the workload phenomenon and ultimately to determine important direct and indirect factors influencing workload. A field study in real working situations was conducted among customer service agents in the insurance industry. Observations in natural settings, individual interviews and focus groups were conducted using an activity analysis ergonomic approach. Results show the presence of five dynamic factors affecting workload: 1) working tool design considering the task at hand, 2) multiplication and variety of demands, 3) balance between organizational expectations and means to achieve them, 4) simultaneous activities to assure customer satisfaction and, finally, 5) minimal feedback and recognition on a daily basis. These results underline the fact that quantity of work is not necessar...

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“…This body of work is said to be made up of the following: Danford, 1998;1999;Delbridge, 1998;Landsbergis et al, 1999;Lewchuk and Robertson, 1997;Mehri, 2006;Sprigg and Jackson, 2006;Sprigg et al, 2007;and Stewart et al, 2009. There are a number of things that need to be said about this.…”

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“…The first is to question the extent to which these books and articles together constitute a cohesive 'body' of work in the way that Carter et al claim. If we look at some of these works individually, we can note, for example, that Sprigg et al (2007) contains no mention at all of lean management. Delbridge's (1998) book is concerned with how employees work under Lean, but it is at least questionable whether it takes the line that Carter et al attribute to it (see Procter, 2001).…”

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Teamworking and Lean revisited: a reply to Carter et al.

Procter

Radnor

2016

The International Journal of Human Resource Management

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This paper is a reply to Carter et al.'s (2015) response to an earlier paper of ours in this journal on the subject of teamworking under Lean in UK public services (Procter and Radnor, 2014). Our reply covers the following issues which Carter et al. have raised: the literature we used to structure our findings; the way in which we used concepts such as autonomy and teamworking; our research methods and approach; how Carter et al.'s newly available data on teamworking might be interpreted; and how data drawn from an official employee attitude survey might best be understood. On the basis of this we conclude that Carter et al.'s paper fails to meet its objectives. On some things the authors are simply wrong; on others, they grossly misrepresent our position; on still others, their interpretations are, at best, highly questionable.

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Work characteristics, musculoskeletal disorders, and the mediating role of psychological strain: A study of call center employees.

Cited by 92 publications

References 60 publications

Perceived Job Stress and Health Complaints at a Bank Call Center: Comparison between Inbound and Outbound Services

Perceived Job Stress and Health Complaints at a Bank Call Center: Comparison between Inbound and Outbound Services

Contribution à un modèle explicatif de la charge de travail : le cas du service à la clientèle

Teamworking and Lean revisited: a reply to Carter et al.

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