Received: 13 September 2019
Accepted: 16 November 2019
In accordance with the government’s regulations in Indonesia, all financial services institutions are obliged to implement a customer complaint handling mechanism, which has contributed to the rapid growth of the call center industry. As a benchmark for managing service quality, call center workers are required to always keep their emotions stable despite the continuous pressures and unpleasant responses from customers. For this reason, working at call centers is now considered a job with a high emotional burden. Few studies have specifically examined the level of emotional exhaustion among call center workers in Indonesia. Therefore, this work aims to investigate the effect of family–work and work–family conflict on such workers’ emotional exhaustion, with person–job fit as antecedent. For this purpose, we collected data from 154 questionnaires completed by call center workers at financial services institutions in Indonesia. We analyze the relationship among the variables under study using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results show that the level of compatibility between employees’ and their job reduces both family–work and work–family conflict. In terms of work–family conflict, call center workers will feel emotionally exhausted only when faced with a dilemma between work and family responsibilities. The call centers’ management should thus create a family-friendly work environment to ensure excellent care for employees.
Keywords: call center worker, emotional exhaustion, family–work conflict, work–family conflict, person–job fit.
JEL Classification: J24, D23, D74, G21.
De acuerdo con las normas establecidas por el gobierno de Indonesia, todas las instituciones financieras están obligadas a contar con un mecanismo de gestión de quejas y reclamos, lo que ha generado un rápido crecimiento de la industria de los centros de llamadas. Como punto de referencia para gestionar la calidad del servicio, los trabajadores en dichos centros deben mantener siempre estables sus emociones a pesar de las continuas presiones y las respuestas desagradables por parte de los clientes. Esto ha llevado a que trabajar en centro de llamadas se considere como un trabajo con una alta carga emocional. Hasta ahora, pocos estudios han examinado específicamente el nivel de agotamiento emocional entre los trabajadores en centros de llamadas en Indonesia. Por consiguiente, este estudio pretende investigar el efecto del conflicto familia-trabajo y trabajo-familia en el agotamiento emocional de dichos trabajadores, considerando la compatibilidad persona-trabajo como antecedente. Para este propósito, recolectamos datos de trabajadores en centros de llamadas en instituciones financieras en Indonesia. Usamos modelos de ecuaciones estructurales para analizar la relación entre las variables estudiadas. Los resultados muestran que el nivel de afinidad entre dichos trabajadores y su trabajo reduce los conflictos familia-trabajo y trabajo-familia. En términos de conflicto trabajo-familia, los trabajadores en centros de llamadas se sentirán emocionalmente agotados solo cuando se enfrenten a un dilema entre su trabajo y sus responsabilidades familiares. Por lo tanto, el área de gerencia de dichos centros debería crear un ambiente de trabajo familiar para garantizar que el servicio al trabajador sea excelente.
Palabras clave: trabajador en centros de llamadas, agotamiento emocional, conflicto familia-trabajo, conflicto trabajo-familia, compatibilidad persona-trabajo.
Clasificación JEL: J24, D23, D74, G21.
The financial services industry plays an important role in the Indonesian economy. This sector helps the government to reduce poverty and inequality by providing credit options to individuals (
Call center operations are currently a vital part in customer service because consumers’ perceptions of companies are primarily determined by the quality of customer interactions when submitting complaints
Such high pressure might also cause call center workers—an example of frontline employees (FLEs)—to undergo work–family conflict and family–work conflict. A previous study by Karatepe (2013) revealed that work–family conflict and family–work conflict are two predictors of emotional exhaustion experienced by FLEs. Therefore, in order for FLEs to find a balance between work (and family) and family (and work) and person–job fit, their abilities and the demands of the job must be aligned (
Additionally, some studies have discussed the influence of internal work factors (stress, task autonomy, and attitude) on the level of emotional exhaustion among call center workers (
Emotional exhaustion
According to
Work–family conflict and family–work conflict
Furthermore,
Inter-role conflict is further defined by
A study by
For this study, the definition of “family” (in the Indonesian context) was taken from the Indonesian Marital Law No. 1/1974, which refers to family as an entity of communication and interaction between all parties in fulfilling their roles, such as those of a spouse, a parent with their children, or siblings (
Person–job fit
Person–job fit is a form of person–environment fit. It is defined as the capacity of employees to find congruence between their abilities and the demands of the work they perform (demands–abilities fit) or between their desires and the attributes of their job (needs–supplies fit) (
Hypotheses and research model
As explained earlier, the concept of person–job fit proposed by
The study by
Another work by
H1: Person–job fit is negatively related to Family–Work Conflict (FWC).
H2: Person–job fit is negatively related to Work–Family Conflict (WFC).
Moreover,
Besides showing that both family–work conflict and work–family conflict can drain employees' energy and resources,
Another study by
A research conducted by
H3: Family–work conflict is positively related to emotional exhaustion.
H4: Work–family conflict is positively related to emotional exhaustion.
Furthermore, Figure 1 below shows the research model that being explained above.
Other studies that indirectly analyze the utility of disclosing accounting information, such as the present o
Sample and procedure
This empirical study was conducted with call center workers from financial institutions (banks and insurance firms) in Jakarta, Indonesia. We chose this city because most call centers in said country are based in Jakarta—the center of business and economy in Indonesia (
Questionnaires were distributed ensuring confidentiality and anonymity. Some questions requested information about the demographic characteristics of the respondents (e.g., gender, age, marital status, number of children), and some others were developed to measure the research variables: person–job fit, family–work conflict, work–family conflict, and emotional exhaustion.
Of the 190 questionnaires distributed to the Call Center Officers (CCOs), only 154 or 81.1 % could be further processed because some respondents did not meet the inclusion criteria.
In terms of demographic characteristics, 87 respondents (56 %) were women, and the rest were men. As for age, 126 respondents (82 %) were 24–26 years old; 17 (11 %), 21–23 years old; and the remaining, 27–30 years old. The working tenure of 118 respondents (77 %) was 1–2 years, and that of the rest, 3–5 years. A total of 82 respondents (53 %) were single, and the remaining were married. Finally, 107 respondents (69 %) reported not to have children; 43 (28 %), 1–2 children; and the rest, 4 children.
Measurement items
For all constructs in this study, we employed scales that have been applied in previous studies. For instance, person–job fit was measured using three-item scales based on the study by
Data analysis
We analyzed the data via Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). We tested the measurement and structural models following a two-step approach (
We conducted the Goodness-Of-Fit (GOF) test with the results of the chi-square (χ2) statistic, Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA), Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR), Comparative Fit Index (CFI), and Normed Fit Index (NFI). A model is considered to be a good fit if its chi-square to degree-of-freedom ratio is 3:1 or less, its RMSEA and SRMR are below 0.8, and its CFI and NFI are equal to 0.95 or higher (
Results of the Confirmatory Factor Analysis
Based on the results of the CFA, some items were reduced because they had a loading factor below 0. 50 (
The five model fit factors showed good results (χ2 = 190.39, df = 97, χ2/df = 1.96; CFI = 0.95; NFI = 0.90; RMSEA = 0.079; SRMR = 0.087). All questions in this study had a loading factor above 0.50 (
Latent variable | Indicator | Standardized loading factor | Composite Reliability (CR) | Average Variance Extracted (AVE) | |
Person–Job Fit | PJF1: My skills and abilities are very compatible with the demands of my job. | 0.86 | 0.815 | 0.604 | |
PJF2: My personality is very compatible with the requirements of my job. | 0.88 | ||||
PJF3: There is a good fit between my job and myself. | 0.55 | ||||
Work–Family Conflict | WFC1: The demands of my job interfere with my family life. | 0.79 | 0.824 | 0.542 | |
WFC2: My working hours make it difficult for me to fulfill my responsibilities as a family member. | 0.62 | ||||
WFC3: I am unable to fulfill my responsibilities at home due to the demands of my job. | 0.73 | ||||
WFC5: I usually have to cancel my attendance to family events due to the demands of my job. | 0.79 | ||||
Family–Work Conflict | FWC1: The demands of my family or partner interfere with my work-related activities. | 0.77 | 0.805 | 0.509 | |
FWC2: I sometimes have to leave my work because of family matters. | 0.63 | ||||
FWC3: The requests of my family or partner interfere my work-related activities . | 0.76 | ||||
FWC4: Some family matters interfere with my job responsibilities, such as starting to work on time, completing daily tasks, and working overtime. | 0.68 | ||||
Emotional Exhaustion | EE1: My job makes me feel emotionally exhausted. | 0.50 | 0.841 | 0.527 | |
EE2: I always feel tired when I wake up in the morning because I have to go back to work. | 0.89 | ||||
EE3: Working all day long makes me feel very tired. | 0.57 | ||||
EE4: I feel frustrated with my work. | 0.91 | ||||
EE5: I feel like on the edge. | 0.67 |
Table 2 shows the correlation matrix, along with the mean and standard deviation of each construct used in this study. As for the demographic variables, working tenure shows a significant negative correlation with emotional exhaustion.
Variable | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | |
1 | Person–Job Fit | - | |||||||
2 | Work–Family Conflict | -0.627** | - | ||||||
3 | Family–Work Conflict | -0.462** | 0.737** | - | |||||
4 | Emotional Exhaustion | -0.072** | 0.253** | 0.216** | - | ||||
5 | Gender | 0.014 | -0.060 | -0.062 | 0.022 | - | |||
6 | Marital Status | -0.080 | 0.040 | -0.006 | 0.060 | -0.009 | - | ||
7 | No. of Children | 0.146 | -0.098 | -0.032 | 0.062 | 0.005 | -0.676** | - | |
8 | Working Tenure | -0.083 | -0.051 | -0.075 | -0.206* | -0.103 | -0.251** | -0.178* | - |
Mean | 4.78 | 4.35 | 4.30 | 4.36 | 1.56 | 1.53 | 1.33 | 1.23 | |
Standard Deviation | 1.53 | 0.49 | 0.54 | 0.47 | 0.49 | 0.50 | 0.52 | 0.42 |
Results of the structural model test
Based on Figure 2 the structural model test yielded good results (χ2 = 169.65, df = 99, χ2/df = 1.71; CFI = 0.96; NFI = 0.91; RMSEA = 0.068; SRMR = 0.064). According to such results, person–job fit has a negative impact on both family–work conflict (β = -0.88, t = -8.93) and work–family conflict (β = -1.33, t = -7.57), which supports hypotheses 1 and 2. Additionally, only family–work conflict shows a positive impact on emotional exhaustion (β = 0.61, t = 1.67), while work–family conflict has no effect on emotional exhaustion among call center workers (β = -0.32, t = -0.96).
Analysis of the research findings and their theoretical contribution
This study had two purposes. First, it aimed to examine the influence of person–job fit (as one of the individual stressors of role conflict) on call center workers in terms of both family–work conflict and work–family conflict. Second, it sought to determine whether role conflict (family–work conflict and work–family conflict) experienced by call center workers and emotional exhaustion while working are correlated. To analyze the relationship between the variables under study, questionnaires were distributed among call center workers in the financial services industry (banks and insurance companies) in Indonesia. This research yielded several interesting findings.
For instance, our results indicate that person–job fit negatively affects role conflict among call center workers (a type of FLEs). In other words, from the demand angle, the more appropriate their level of skills, knowledge, and abilities to perform their work duties, the less likely they will experience role conflict (family–work conflict and work–family conflict). From the supply angle, if call center workers perceive that their job is compatible or in line with their own personality, they will feel more energetic and comfortable in carrying out their work routines (
Moreover, we only found a relationship between family–work conflict and emotional exhaustion among call center workers. This is consistent with the findings of
Call center workers experience family–work conflict in multiple forms. According to
Work–family conflict was proven not to have a significant effect on the emotional exhaustion experienced by call center workers. Even though this contradicts the results reported by previous studies (
Future research
Further studies should consider several aspects. First, this study did not take into account gender (
Managerial implication
The results of this study have several managerial implications. First, the level of compatibility between individuals (both in terms of personality and skills) and their job (or person–job fit) can prevent role conflict (family–work conflict and work–family conflict) among call center workers in the financial services industry. Therefore, to provide a quality customer service, call center managers (in the financial industry) must assess candidates’ personality and skills during the selection process. Otherwise, they will experience difficulties regarding employee retention (
Second, since family–work conflict plays an important role in emotional exhaustion among call center workers, companies need to create a family-friendly work environment (e.g., health insurance for children and permissions so that employees can receive their children’s report cards) to reduce family strains and, thus, encourage them to give their best at work.
The purpose of this study was to investigate whether role conflict in the form of family–work conflict and work–family conflict affects emotional exhaustion, with person–job fit as antecedent. Data were collected from call center workers at banking and insurance firms in the financial services industry in Indonesia. The results of the structural equation model testing showed that the research model was viable. In addition, the hypothesis testing results revealed that person–job fit is negatively related to family–work conflict and work–family conflict. In other words, the more compatible call center workers are with job requirements, the less likely they will experience role conflict (family–work conflict and work–family conflict). Additionally, we found that only family–work conflict is positively related to emotional exhaustion.
Based on our findings, call centers in general and call center managers should consider fostering a family-friendly working environment to prevent role conflict. Moreover, they should assess call center workers’ knowledge, skills, and abilities and include a personality test into their hiring practices to prevent role conflict.