The current study developed and tested the indirect effect of the relational job characteristics (i.e., perceived prosocial impact and perceived social value) on the burnout syndrome through the autonomous motivation. The cross-sectional survey data analysis of 1,538 Portuguese contact center workers was analyzed using the software package Mplus to conduct structural equation models. Autonomous motivation partially explains the negative relation between the relational job characteristics and burnout. However, the direct relationship between perceived prosocial impact and burnout was not significant. To promote awareness about the perceived value and impact of work and to invest in the interactions between workers and customers are the major practical implications of this study.
BakkerA.DemeroutiE. (2007). The job demands-resources model: State of the art. Journal of managerial psychology, 22, 309–328. doi:10.1108/02683940710733115
2.
BakkerA.DemeroutiE.SchaufeliW. (2003). Dual processes at work in a call centre: An application of the job demands–resources model. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 12, 393–417. doi:10.1080/13594320344000165
3.
BattR.DoellgastV.KwonH.AgrawalV. (2005). Service management and employment systems in US and Indian call centers. Brookings Trade Forum, 1, 335–372. doi:10.1353/btf.2006.0004
4.
BrislinR. W. (1980). Translation and content analysis of oral and written materials. In TriandisH. C.BerryJ. W. (Eds.), Handbook of cross-cultural psychology (pp. 389–444). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
5.
BrownT. A. (2015). Confirmatory factor analysis for applied research (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
6.
CastanheiraF.ChambelM. J. (2010). Reducing burnout in call centers through HR practices. Human Resource Management, 49, 1047–1065. doi:10.1002/hrm.20393
7.
ChambelM. J.CastanheiraF. (2010). Trabalhar num call center: Dos mitos à realidade[Work in a call center: From myth to reality].Lisboa, Portugal: RH Editora.
8.
ChambelM. J.CastanheiraF.Oliveira-CruzF.LopesS. (2015). Work context support and Portuguese soldiers’ well-being: The mediating role of autonomous motivation. Military Psychology, 27, 297–305. doi:10.1037/mil0000087
9.
ChambelM. J.CastanheiraF.SobralF. (2016). Temporary agency versus permanent workers: A multigroup analysis of human resource management, work engagement and organizational commitment. Economic and Industrial Democracy, 37, 665–689. doi:10.1177/0143831x14550695
10.
DeciE. L.RyanR. M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior. New York, NY: Plenum.
11.
DeciE. L.RyanR. M. (2008). Self-determination theory: A macrotheory of human motivation, development, and health. Psychologie Canadienne[Canadian Psychology], 49, 182–185. doi:10.1037/a0012801
12.
DeeryS.IversonR.WalshJ. (2002). Work relationships in telephone call centres: Understanding emotional exhaustion and employee withdrawal. Journal of Management Studies, 39, 471–496. doi:10.1111/1467-6486.00300
13.
DemeroutiE.BakkerA. B.NachreinerF.SchaufeliW. B. (2001). The job demands-resources model of burnout. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86, 499–512. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.86.3.499
14.
EricksonR. J.WhartonA. S. (1997). Inauthenticity and depression: assessing the consequences of interactive service work. Work and Occupations, 24, 188–213. doi:10.1177/0730888497024002004
15.
FernetC.AustinS.VallerandR. J. (2012). The effects of work motivation on employee exhaustion and commitment: An extension of the JD-R model. Work and Stress, 26, 213–229. doi:10.1080/02678373.2012.713202
16.
GagnéM.ForestJ.GilbertM.AubéC.MorinE.MalorniA. (2010). The motivation at work scale: Validation evidence in two languages. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 70, 628–646. doi:10.1177/0013164409355698
17.
GilletN.GagneM.SauvagèreS.FouquereauE. (2013). The role of supervisor autonomy support, organizational support, and autonomous and controlled motivation in predicting employees’ satisfaction and turnover intentions. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 22, 450–460. doi:10.1080/1359432x.2012.665228
18.
GrantA. M. (2007). Relational job design and the motivation to make a prosocial difference. Academy of Management Review, 32, 393–417. doi:10.5465/amr.2007.24351328
19.
GrantA. M. (2008a). Does intrinsic motivation fuel the prosocial fire? Motivational synergy in predicting persistence, Performance, and Productivity. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93, 48–58. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.93.1.48
20.
GrantA. M. (2008b). The significance of task significance: Job performance effects, relational mechanisms, and boundary conditions. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93, 108–120. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.93.1.108
21.
GrantA. M.AshfordS. J. (2008). The dynamics of proactivity at work. Research in Organizational Behavior, 28, 3–34. doi:10.1016/j.riob.2008.04.002
22.
GrantA. M.BerryJ. W. (2011). The necessity of others is the mother of invention: Intrinsic and prosocial motivations, perspective taking, and creativity. Academy of Management Journal, 54, 73–96. doi:10.5465/amj.2011.59215085
23.
GrantA. M.CampbellE. M. (2007). Doing good, doing harm, being well and burning out: The interactions of perceived prosocial and antisocial impact in service work. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 80, 665–691. doi:10.1348/096317906x169553
24.
GrantA. M.ParkerS. K. (2009). Redesigning work design theories: The rise of relational and proactive perspectives. The Academy of Management Annuals, 3, 317–375. doi:10.1080/19416520903047327
25.
GrantA. M.SonnentagS. (2010). Doing good buffers against feeling bad: Prosocial impact compensates for negative task and self-evaluations. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 111, 13–22. doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2009.07.003
26.
HackmanJ. R.OldhamG. R. (1976). Motivation through the design of work: Test of a theory. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 16, 250–279. doi:10.1016/0030-5073(76)90016-7
27.
HerzbergF. (1968). One more time: How do you motivate employees?Harvard Business Review, 81, 87–96.
28.
HochschildA. (1979). Emotion work, feeling rules, and social structure. American Journal of Sociology, 85, 551–557. doi:10.1086/227049
29.
HolmanD.ChissickC.TotterdellP. (2002). The effects of performance monitoring on emotional labor and well-being in call centers. Motivation and Emotion, 26, 57–81. doi:10.1023/A:1015194108376
30.
HowardJ.GagnéM.MorinA. J. S.WangZ. N.ForestJ. (2016). Using bifactor exploratory structural equation modeling to test for a continuum structure of motivation. Journal of Management. doi:10.1177/0149206316645653
31.
JohnsonG. J.JohnsonW. R. (2000). Perceived overqualification and dimensions of job satisfaction: A longitudinal analysis. The Journal of Psychology, 134, 537–555. doi:10.1080/00223980009598235
32.
KarasekR. A. (1979). Job demands, job decision latitude, and mental strain: Implications for job redesign. Administrative Science Quarterly, 24, 285–308. doi:10.2307/2392498
33.
LeiterM. P.MaslachC. (1988). The impact of interpersonal environment on burnout and organizational commitment. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 9, 297–308. doi:10.1002/job.4030090402
34.
LewigK. A.DollardM. F. (2003). Emotional dissonance, emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction in call centre workers. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 12, 366–392. doi:10.1080/13594320344000200
35.
LobeneE.MeadeA. W. (2010). Perceived overqualification: An exploration of outcomes. 25th Annual Meeting of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, USA, 1–7.
36.
LopesS.ChambelM. J. (2016). Temporary agency workers’ motivations and well-being at work: A two-wave study. International Journal of Stress Management. doi:10.1037/str0000041
37.
MacKinnonD. P. (2008). Introduction to statistical mediation analysis. Abingdon, England: Routledge.
38.
MaslachC. (2003). Job burnout: New directions in research and intervention. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 12, 189–192. doi:10.1037/e316652004-001
MuthénL. K.MuthénB. O. (2015). Mplus user’s guide (7th ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Muthén & Muthén.
41.
PerlmanB.HartmanE. A. (1982). Burnout: Summary and future research. Human Relations, 35, 283–305. doi:10.1177/001872678203500402
42.
PetrouP.DemeroutiE.PeetersM. C. W.SchaufeliW. B.HetlandJ. (2012). Crafting a job on a daily basis: Contextual correlates and the link to work engagement. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 33, 1120–1141. doi:10.1002/job.1783
43.
PreacherK. J.HayesA. F. (2008). Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behavior Research Methods, 40, 879–891. doi:10.3758/brm.40.3.879
44.
RyanR. M.DeciE. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55, 68–78. doi:10.1037//0003-066x.55.1.68
45.
SantosA.ChambelM. J.CastanheiraF.CostaC.VieiraM. (2017). Psychological effects of relational job characteristics: Validation of the scale for hospital nurses. Journal of Nursing Management, 25, 329–338. doi:10.1111/jonm.12468
46.
SchaufeliW. B.BuunkB. P. (2003). Burnout: An overview of 25 years of research and theorizing, In SchabracqJ. M.JacquesM. A.CooperL. C. (Eds.), The handbook of work and health psychology (pp. 282–424). Chichester, England: John Wiley.
47.
SchaufeliW. B.MaslachC. (1993). Historical and conceptual development of burnout. In SchaufeliW. B.MaslachC.MarekT. (Eds.), Professional burnout: Recent developments in theory and research (pp. 1–16). Washington, DC: Taylor and Francis.
48.
SobralF.ChambelM. J.CastanheiraF. (2016). Managing motivation in the contact center: The employment relationship of outsourcing and temporary agency workers. Economic & Industrial Democracy. doi:10.1177/0143831x16648386
49.
SuperD. E. (1983). Assessment in career guidance: Toward truly developmental counseling. The Personal and Guidance Journal, 61, 555–562. doi:10.1111/j.2164-4918.1983.tb00099.x
50.
Van De SchootR.LugtigP.HoxJ. (2012). A checklist for testing measurement invariance. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 9, 486–492. doi:10.1093/acprof: oso/9780195325089.003.0007
