نوع مقاله : مقاله پژوهشی
عنوان مقاله English
نویسندگان English
Purpose: This exploratory study examines the relationship between organizational cognitive capital skills and employee performance indicators in call center settings. Call center work is characterized by high cognitive demands, emotional labor, strict performance standards, and frequent interactions with dissatisfied customers. These conditions can undermine employee well-being and reduce service quality, making it important to identify cognitive and emotional capabilities that may support better performance. Drawing on the literature on cognitive capital, the study focuses on six skill domains: positive and negative affect, cognitive resilience, perceived stress, executive function weakness, emotion regulation, and attention/concentration difficulties. The main purpose was to investigate how these cognitive skills relate to objective performance indicators among call center employees and whether these relationships differ across two distinct job roles: registration operators and support operators. By doing so, the study seeks to extend the theoretical understanding of cognitive capital in organizational contexts and provide practical insights for improving performance in service-intensive occupations.
Design/Methodology/Approach: This study employed an applied, exploratory, descriptive‑correlational, and quantitative design. The statistical population comprised all employees (N=28) of a transportation services call center in Tehran, Iran, who were included via total census sampling. The sample consisted of 15 registration operators (handling customer requests and service orders) and 13 support operators (resolving post‑service issues). Given the distinct task structures and interactional demands of the two roles, performance and cognitive‑performance relationships were analyzed separately. Two data categories were collected. Objective performance data—including break time, call volume, talk time, errors, waiting time, conversion rate, and related metrics—were extracted from organizational records. Self‑reported cognitive‑emotional measures assessed affective experience (PANAS), perceived stress (PSS), cognitive resilience (CD‑RISC), executive dysfunction (BRIEF), emotion regulation strategies (ERQ; reappraisal and suppression), and attention‑related difficulties (BAARS‑IV; inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity, and cognitive sluggishness). Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficients, with results interpreted separately for the two groups.
Findings: Significant differences emerged between registration and support operators in performance and cognitive profiles. Support operators showed longer breaks, shorter talk time, longer waiting time, and fewer errors, suggesting distinct cognitive-emotional demands. In registration operators, talk time positively predicted service conversion; waiting time was linked to stress, executive dysfunction, and attention problems; break duration correlated with resilience and emotion regulation, while talk time was inversely related to emotion regulation. Affective balance showed no performance link. In support operators, executive dysfunction predicted longer talk/wait time and lower call volume; stress correlated with waiting time and errors; positive affect reduced both. Attention problems were weakly related to performance. Intercorrelations among cognitive domains also varied by role. Positive affect linked to resilience and regulation; stress and dysfunction inversely related to resilience—stronger in support operators. Reappraisal (support) vs. suppression (registration) ties to emotion regulation differed. Attention sluggishness/inattention was more strongly connected to cognitive weaknesses in registration operators.
Discussion and Conclusion: The results suggest that organizational cognitive resources are significantly associated with performance in call center work, though this relationship depends on job role. Registration operators appear to rely more on sustained attention, emotion regulation, and cognitive resilience to manage interactions and convert calls into service orders. Support operators seem more affected by executive functioning, emotional balance, and perceived stress, likely due to their greater exposure to complex interpersonal problem‑solving and customer frustration. This study contributes to the literature by highlighting that cognitive‑emotional skills serve as performance resources in demanding service environments. It also shows that ostensibly operational metrics—such as waiting time, talk time, and break time—may reflect underlying cognitive capacities. A uniform approach to employee development is unlikely to be effective; interventions should be role‑ and profile‑specific. Practically, managers should invest in targeted programs to strengthen resilience, emotion regulation, executive function, and attentional control, which may enhance well‑being, service performance, and customer experience while reducing errors. Future research should examine these relationships in larger, more diverse samples and across industries, ideally using longitudinal or experimental designs to establish causality, and complement self‑reports with behavioral or neurocognitive measures.
کلیدواژهها English
