Browsing by Author "Coetzee, Lisa"

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    Fear of covid-19 and call centre operator engagement and burnout
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2022-12) Coetzee, Lisa; Boonzaier, Billy; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Dept. of Industrial Psychology.
    ENGLISH SUMMARY: Call centres are viewed as being unpleasant work environments and are referred to as “electronic sweatshops”, “dark satanic mills” and “assembly lines in the head” (Visser & Rothmann, 2008, p. 80), and many research findings have concluded that multiple variables of the work environment lead to burnout. Furthermore, in 2022 it was found that 87% of call centre employees reported high-stress levels in their job (Donevski, 2022). The recent COVID-19 pandemic has raised various implications for organisations, teams, and individuals. Many issues have come to the fore in the call centre industry from the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and there are still many more challenges that need to be investigated and addressed. The aim of this research study was to develop a conceptual model that is representative of the interaction between the most salient variables that may clarify the variance in job burnout and work engagement among call centre employees in South Africa. The type of research design that was utilised is ex post facto design. Non-probability sampling was used as the preferred sampling technique. More specifically, a purposive sampling method was employed, and 148 participants were included. The data collected was analysed through Partial Least Squared Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) and support was found for the seven main hypotheses that were formulated at the start of the research study. These findings are in support of the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) theory (Bakker & Demerouti, 2014), which stipulates that the presence of job demands will predict job burnout, and the presence of job and personal resources will predict work engagement. The job resource social support, and career competencies as a personal resource, were found to directly predict engagement. Work overload and the fear of COVID-19 as job demands, were found to lead to burnout for call centre employees. The hypothesised moderating relationships were both found to be non-significant which is not in accordance with JD-R theory. The research findings provided insight in various aspects that influence the work engagement and job burnout among call centre employees in South Africa. Through these findings, potential interventions were suggested for HR managers, Industrial Psychologists, and managers in the call centre industry to reduce the levels of job burnout and increase the level of work engagement of employees within the call centre industry in South Africa.