Modelling heterogeneity in Perceptions of Stress in Indian Call Centres: A Latent Class Analysis

Anup M. Nandialath, Zayed University
Diya Das, Bryant University
Ramesh Mohan, Bryant University

Document Type Article

Published in the International Journal of Business Innovation and Research, volume 6 issue 5, p. 481-498. 2012.

Abstract

Stress is one of the biggest human resource (HR) problems facing high turnover industries like the Indian international call centre industry. This paper provides a comprehensive study of how the attitudes of call centre employees towards different aspects of their work affect their level of stress experienced. Our specific contribution to the literature is in understanding the heterogeneity among employees and how that affects meaningful inference in studying employees’ perceptions of stress. To achieve this goal, we compare and contrast between traditional regression models used in the extant literature with latent class regression analysis. The latent class analysis suggests the presence of four distinct groups of employees, confirming the heterogeneity present in the data. This study is unique in trying to explore how individuals may differ in their experience of stress and how there may be heterogeneity in the relationships explored between various cognitive and affective variables and experiences of stress.