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Why do off‐shored I ndian call centre workers want to leave their jobs?
Author(s) -
Deery Stephen,
Nath Vandana,
Walsh Janet
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
new technology, work and employment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.889
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1468-005X
pISSN - 0268-1072
DOI - 10.1111/ntwe.12013
Subject(s) - call centre , context (archaeology) , psychology , social psychology , stress (linguistics) , affect (linguistics) , hostility , business , public relations , demographic economics , political science , economics , communication , paleontology , linguistics , philosophy , law , biology
Employee turnover is a major problem in off‐shored Indian call centres. Agents who service Western customers often face hostility and racial abuse because of who they are and where they are located. A substantial part of job‐related training focuses on teaching employees to manage their identity and modify their accent. Based on a sample ( n = 211) of Indian call centre workers servicing international customers, we explore these issues and investigate how they affect employee turnover intentions. The study utilises T aylor and B ain's (2005) distinction between factors particular to the Indian context and those more generic to the call centre labour process to better understand the drivers of turnover. We found that a number of distinctive factors including accent modification difficulty, stigma consciousness, racial abuse and perceived favouritism were associated with turnover intentions. The study also revealed that certain job‐related factors related to intentions to leave, including routinisation and poor promotional opportunities.