Abstract
A study was conducted to investigate the relationship between performance monitoring and well-being. It also examined a mechanism, namely emotional labor, that might mediate the relationship between them, assessed the effect of the work context on the relationship between performance monitoring and well-being, and examined the relative effects of performance monitoring and work context on well-being. Three aspects of performance monitoring were covered, namely, its performance-related content (i.e., immediacy of feedback, clarity of performance criteria), its beneficial-purpose (i.e., developmental rather than punitive aims), and its perceived intensity. The participants were 347 customer service agents in two U.K. call centers who completed a battery of questionnaire scales. Regression analyses revealed that the performance-related content and the beneficial-purpose of monitoring were positively related to well-being, while perceived intensity had a strong negative association with well-being. Emotional labor did not mediate the relationship between monitoring and well-being in the form hypothesized, although it was related to these two factors. Work context (job control, problem solving demand, supervisory support) did not mediate the relationship between monitoring and well-being, but job control and supervisory support did moderate the relationship between perceived intensity and well-being. Relative to other study variables, perceived intensity showed stronger associations with emotional exhaustion, while job control and supervisory support tended to show stronger associations with depression and job satisfaction. Implications for theory, practice, and future research are discussed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aiello, J. R., DeNisi, A. S., Kirkoff, K., Shao, Y., Lund, M. A., & Chomiak, A. A. (1991). The impact of feedback and individual/group monitoring on work effort. Paper presented at the American Psychological Society, Washington.
Aiello, J. R., & Kolb, K. J. (1995). Electronic performance monitoring and social context: Impact on productivity and stress. Journal of Applied Psychology, 80, 339–353.
Aiello, J. R., & Shao, Y. (1993). Electronic performance monitoring and stress: The role of feedback and goal setting. In M. J. Smith & G. Salavendy (Eds.), Human–computer interaction: Applications and case studies (pp. 1011–1016.) Amsterdam: Elsevier Science.
Aiello, J. R., & Svec, C. M. (1993). Computer monitoring and work performance: Extending the social facilitation framework to electronic presence. Journal of Applied Social Psychology 23, 537–548.
Alder, G. S. (1998). Ethical issues in electronic performance monitoring: A consideration of deontological and teleological perspectives. Journal of Business Ethics, 17, 729–743.
Axtell, C., Holman, D., Wall, T., Waterson, P., Harrington, E., & Unsworth, K. (2000). Shopfloor innovation: Facilitating the suggestion and implementation of ideas. Journal of Occupational and Organisational Psychology, 73, 265–285.
Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: W. H. Freeman.
Baron, R. B., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator–mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173–1182.
Belt, V., Richardson, R., & Webster, J. (1999, March 19). Smiling down the phone: Women's work in Telephone Call Centres. Call Centre Conference, London School of Economics.
Brotheridge, C. M., & Grandey, A. A. (2002). Emotional labor and burnout: Comparing two perspectives of “people work.” Journal of Vocational Behavior, 60, 17–39
Brotheridge, C. M., & Lee, R. T. (1998, August). On the dimensionality of emotional labour: Development of an emotional labour scale. Paper presented at the First Conference on Emotions in Organisational Life, San Diego, CA.
Bylinsky, G. (1991, November 4). How companies spy on employees. Fortune, pp. 131–140.
Carayon, P. (1993). Effects of electronic performance monitoring on job design and worker stress: Review of the literature and conceptual model. Human Factors, 35, 385–395.
Carayon, P. (1994). Effects of electronic performance monitoring on job design and worker stress: Results of two studies. International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction 6, 177–190.
Carver, C. S., Lawrence, J. W., & Scheier, M. F. (1995). A control-process perspective on the origins of affect. In L. L. Leonard & A. Tesser (Eds.), Striving and feeling (pp. 11–52.) Madwah: Erlbaum.
Chalykoff, J., & Kochan, T. (1989). Computer-aided monitoring: Its influence on employee job satisfaction and turnover. Personnel Psychology, 42, 807–834.
David, R., & Henderson, R. (2000). Electronic performance monitoring: A laboratory investigation of the influence of monitoring and difficulty on task performance, mood state, and self reported stress levels. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 30, 906–920.
Eagly, A. H., & Chaiken, S. (1993). The psychology of attitudes. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Fernie, S., & Metcalf, D. (1998). (Not) Hanging on the telephone: Payment systems in the new sweatshops. Centrepiece, 3, 7–11.
Fisher, C. D. (2000). Moods and emotions while working: Missing pieces of job satisfaction? Journal of Organizational Behavior, 21, 185–202.
Grandey, A. A. (2000). Emotion regulation in the workplace: A new way to conceptualise emotional labour. Journal of Occupational Health, 5, 95–110.
Grant, R. A., & Higgins, C. A. (1989). Computerised performance monitors: Factors affecting acceptance. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 38, 306–314.
Gross, J. (1998). The emerging field of emotion regulation: An integrative review. Review of General Psychology, 2, 271–299.
Hackman, J., & Oldham, G. (1976). Motivation through the design of work: Test of a theory. Organizational Behaviour and Human Performance, 15, 250–279.
Halpern, S. (1992, May). Big boss is watching you. Details, pp. 18–23.
Hochschild, A. R. (1983). The managed heart: Commercialisation of human feeling. Berkley, CA: University of California Press.
Irving, R. H., Higgins, C. A., & Safeyeni, F. R. (1986, August, 29). Computerised performance monitoring systems: Use and abuse. Communications of the ACM, pp. 794–801.
Jackson, P., Wall, T. D., Martin, R., & Davids, K. (1993). New measures of job control, cognitive demand, and production responsibility. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78, 753–762.
Jenkins, S. R., & Maslach, C. (1994). Psychological health and involvement in interpersonally demanding occupations: A longitudinal perspective. Journal of Organisational Behavior, 15(2), 101–127
Karasek, R. A., & Theorell, T. G. (1990). Healthy work: Stress, productivity and the reconstruction of working life. New York: Basic Books.
Kuhl, J. (1992). A theory of self-regulation: Action versus state orientation, self discrimination, some applications. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 41, 97–129.
Lund, J. (1992). Electronic performance monitoring: A review of research issues. Applied Ergonomics, 23, 54–58.
Maslach, C., & Jackson, S. E. (1981). The measurement of experienced burnout. Journal of Occupational Behaviour, 2, 99–113.
Nebeker, D. M., & Tatum, B. C. (1993). The effects of computer monitoring, standards and rewards on work performance, job satisfaction and stress. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 23, 508–536.
Niehoff, B. P., & Moorman, R. H. (1993). Justice as a mediator of the relationship between methods of monitoring and organizational citizenship behavior. Academy of Management Journal, 36, 527–556.
Nussbaum, K. (1992). Workers under surveillance. Computerworld 26, 21.
Parkinson, B. (1991). Emotional stylists: Strategies of expressive management among trainee hairdressers. Cognition and Emotion, 5, 419–434.
Parkinson, B., & Totterdell, P. (1999). Classifying affect regulation strategies, Cognition and Emotion, 13, 277–303
Ross, S. (1992). Big brother in workplace growing bigger everyday. Reuter Business Report, 15, 11–12.
Rousseau, D. M. (1978). Characteristics of departments, positions and individuals: Contexts for attitudes and behaviour. Administrative Science Quarterly, 23, 521–540.
Rutter, D. R., & Fielding, P. J. (1988). Source of occupational stress: An examination of British prison officers. Work and Stress, 2, 291–299.
Schaubroeck, J., & Jones, J. R. (2000). Antecedents of workplace emotional labour dimensions and moderators of their effects on physical symptoms. Journal of Organizational Behaviour, 21, 163–184.
Schleifer, L. M. (1990). Electronic performance monitoring and stress in computer based office tasks: A review of the literature and recommendations for further research. Paper presented at the Midwest Human Factors Conference, Dayton, OH.
Smith, M. J., & Amick, B. C. (1989). Electronic performance monitoring and job control. In S. L. Sauter, J. J. Hurrell, & C. Cooper (Eds.), Job control and worker health. New York: Wiley.
Smith, M. J., Carayon, P., & Miezio, K. (1986). Motivational, behavioral and psychological implications of electronic monitoring of worker performance. Washington: Office of Technology Assessment.
Smith, M. J., Carayon, P., Sanders, K. J., Lim, S. Y., & LeGrande, D. (1992). Employee stress and health complaints in jobs with and without monitoring. Applied Ergonomics, 23, 17–27.
Stanton, J. M. (2000). Reactions to employee performance monitoring: Framework, review and research directions. Human Performance, 13, 85–113.
Stanton, J. M., & BarnesFarrell, J. L. (1996). Effects of electronic performance monitoring on personal control, satisfaction and performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 81, 738–745.
Sutton, R. I. (1991). Maintaining norms about expressed emotions: The case of bill collectors. Administrative Science Quarterly, 36, 245–268.
Totterdell, P., & Parkinson, B. (1999). Use and effectiveness of self-regulation strategies for improving mood in a group of trainee teachers. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology 4, 219–232.
Warr, P. B. (1990). The measurement of well-being and other aspects of mental health. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 63, 193–210.
Warr, P. B. (Ed.). (1996). Psychology at work (4th ed.). Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Warr, P. B., Cook, J. D., & Wall, T. D. (1979). Scales for the measurement of some work attitudes and aspects of psychological well-being. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 52, 285–294.
Waterson, P. E., Clegg, C., Bolden, R., Pepper, K., Warr, P. B., & Wall, T. D. (1997). The use and effectiveness of modern manufacturing practices in the U.K. ESRC Center for Organisation and Innovation, University of Sheffield.
Weiss, H. M., & Cropanzano, R. (1996). Affective events theory: A theoretical discussion of the structure, causes and consequences of affective experiences at work. In B. M. Staw & L. L. Cummings (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior (Vol. 18, pp. 1–74.) Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
Weiss, H. M., Nicholas, J. P., & Daus, C. S. (1999). An examination of the joint effects of affective experiences and job beliefs on job satisfaction and variations in affective experiences over time. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 78, 1–24.
Zapf, D., Vogt, C., Seifert, C., Mertini, H., & Isic, A. (1999). Emotion work as a source of stress: The concept and development of an instrument. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 8, 370–400.
Zerbe, W. J. (2000). Emotional dissonance and employee well-being. In N. M. Ashkanasy, C. E. J. Hartel, & W. J. Zerbe (Eds.), Emotions in the workplace: Research, theory and practice (pp. 189–214.) Westport, CT: Quorum Books.s
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Holman, D., Chissick, C. & Totterdell, P. The Effects of Performance Monitoring on Emotional Labor and Well-Being in Call Centers. Motivation and Emotion 26, 57–81 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015194108376
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015194108376