Antecedents and Consequences of Emotional Dissonance among Call Center Agents
Keywords:
Emotional Dissonance; Strategic Deception, Customer Unfriendlines, Job satisfaction, Turnover IntentAbstract
Emotional dissonance is a strong feeling of uneasiness commonly experience by call center agents when dealing with unfriendly customers. It is known to be detrimental to the workers’ emotional wellbeing, which, in turn, lead to the formation of attitudes and behaviors inimical to the employing center’s success. Aimed at identifying the determinants and the consequences of emotional dissonance, a structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis was performed using the data gathered from 689 randomly selected respondents working in eight call centers in the Philippines. The findings revealed that customer unfriendliness and strategic deception contribute to emotional dissonance, which, in turn, predicts job satisfaction negatively and turnover intent positively. From the valuable insights gained from the findings, the paper suggests that to limit the negative consequences of emotional dissonance (e.g., lower job satisfaction and greater turnover intent), the employment of strategic deception in the workplace has to be discouraged or, in some cases, its requirement has to be ceased. In addition, professional trainings or interventions aimed at helping agents develop coping strategies in dealing with unfriendly customers are also recommended to limit the impact of unfriendly customer behaviors on emotional dissonance.
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