Title: The effect of emotional labour on job burnout among call-centre Customer Service Representatives in India

Authors: Shilpa Surana, Anup K. Singh

Addresses: Institute of Management, Nirma University of Science and Technology, Ahmedabad – 382481, India. ' International Management Institute, B-10, Qutab Institutional Area, New Delhi – 110016, India

Abstract: This paper focuses on the effect of emotional labour on job burnout among call-centre Customer Service Representatives (CSRs) in India. Unlike previous research, results from this study show that emotional labour is only weakly related to job burnout. It is inferred that |communities of coping| (Korczynski, 2003) are an important collective |survival strategy| (Noon and Blyton, 1997) for service workers. Supported by the collectivist culture within India, |communities of coping| can provide a way for service workers to survive the systematic tensions of their working days, and thus act as a |buffer| against stress and burnout.

Keywords: canonical correlation analysis; emotional labour; factor analysis; job burnout; multiple regression; call centres; customer service representatives; India; stress; communities of coping; survival strategy; service workers; services.

DOI: 10.1504/IJWOE.2009.025396

International Journal of Work Organisation and Emotion, 2009 Vol.3 No.1, pp.18 - 39

Published online: 21 May 2009 *

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