The development of a hassle-based diagnostic scale for predicting burnout in call centres

Abstract

The aim of this study was to develop a brief daily hassle diagnostic questionnaire that could be used to identify daily hassles for customer service representatives within a call centre environment, and to investigate the relationship between daily hassles and burnout. A crosssectional survey was used with an accidental sample (N = 394) taken from a service and sales call centre. An exploratory factor analysis of the data resulted in a six-factor model of daily hassles consisting of daily demands, continuous change, co-worker hassles, demotivating work environment, transportation hassles and personal concerns. The internal consistency of one factor, namely personal concerns, was low. Exhaustion was best predicted by four categories of daily hassles, namely daily demands, continuous change, a demotivating work environment, and transportation hassles.