Sunil Sahadev, Sudarshan Seshanna and Keyoor Purani
The purpose of this paper is to consider the impact of a competitive psychological climate on the levels of role conflict and work-family conflict in call center employees and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to consider the impact of a competitive psychological climate on the levels of role conflict and work-family conflict in call center employees and their further impact on customer orientation.
Design/methodology/approach
The conceptual model is developed through a review of literature and is then validated in the context of call center employees in India. A total of 281 responses were considered. The model is validated using a multi-group analysis in order to consider a possible influence of gender.
Findings
The model is found to have a very good fit and four of the five hypothesized relationships are found to be significant. The study thus establishes the impact of a competitive psychological climate on the role conflict and work-life conflict in the case of service employees.
Research limitations/implications
The study uses a self-reported measure of customer orientation as well as the sampling methodology is not random. These two aspects could limit the generalizability of the results.
Practical implications
The paper gives empirical support against adoption of competition-based practices in service organizations. This is an important implication for practitioners.
Originality/value
The study looks at the impact of competitive psychological climate in call centers, a construct hitherto not much analyzed. The analysis of the relationship between competitive psychological climate, role conflict and work-family conflict have also not been looked into in the previous literature.