Burnout Theory

2.0 Literature Review

2.1 Personal Traits

Many studies which have been conducted on the work environment of call centers have indicated that the stressful environment is linked to employee burnout (Holman, 2003; Wallace et al. 2000). Burnout can be considered as an external stressor which is developed when someone is exposed to a demanding environment over a long period of time and normally leads emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and lack of accomplishment (Maslach and Jackson, 1981).

Table 2.1 – Stages of Burnout and Relevant traits.

Concept Effects Traits

Emotional exhaustion

Stress resulted from interaction between agents and clients Emotional intelligence

Depersonalization Withdrawal of commitment towards one’s work

Self-directed

It was introducted by Salovey and Mayer (1990) and Goleman (1995) was among the first to draw more attention to emotional intelligence and he defined it as “being able to motivate oneself and persist in the face of frustrations; to control impulse and delay gratifications; to regulate one’s mood and keep distress from swamping the ability to think; to empathize and to hope” (p. 34).

He further stated that the main difference between a high performer and a low performer is due to the different level of emotional intelligence between the two. George (2000) also concluded that those with higher emotional intelligence are prone to be high performers. During a study conducted on UK-based contact center agents (Higgs, 2004), it was found that overall EI is mostly positively correlated with the agents’ performance based on the elements found under the personal factor model developed by Delewicz and Higgs (2000).

Table 2.1 – Seven Elements of Emotional Intelligence

Elements Definition

Self-awareness Is aware of one’s feelings and able to manage them accordingly

Emotional resilience Ability to manage one’s performance under extreme pressure

Motivation Able to push through challenging goals and targets

Interpersonal sensitivity Able to empathize with others and create a connection

Long (1992) mentioned that self-directed learning (SDL) is the driving factor when it comes to adult learners. Knowles (1975, p.18) defined SDL as: “In its broadest meaning, SDL describes a process in which individuals take the initiative, with or without the help of others, in diagnosing their learning needs, formulating learning goals, identifying resources for learning, choosing and implementing appropriate learning strategies, and evaluating learning