Personality,Coping and Task-Induced Stress in Customer Service Personnel

Abstract

This study investigated predictors of stress responses in customer service personnel working for a major telecommunications company. 91 participants performed a simulation of their work task. They were presented with telephone inquiries, and tested for their knowledge of the correct response. Several findings of a previous study (Matthews & Falconer, 2000) were replicated. Performing the task appeared to be intrinsically stressful, as evidenced by a large magnitude increase in subjective distress. Individual differences in stress state were related to strategy for coping with task demands. The ‘Big Five’ personality traits were compared with measures of dispositional coping style as predictors of subjective stress state. Coping measures added significantly to the variance in stress state explained by the Big Five. Emotion-focused strategies such as self-criticism appeared to be especially damaging in the customer service context. Coping measures might be used by organizations to select operators likely to be resistant to task-induced stress.

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