The Influence of HRM Practices and Environmental Factors on Job Performance of Internal Customers of Call Centre Industry

• Author: Yoshifumi Harada - Thishvan Sendera - Ndanusa Mohammed Manzuma-Ndaaba
• Position: Faculty of Management Sciences, Prince of Songkla University, Songkhla, Thailand and School of Business Innovation and Technoprenuership, University Malaysia Perlis - School of Business Innovation and Technoprenuership, University Malaysia Perlis - School of Business Innovation and Technoprenuership, University Malaysia Perlis
• Pages: 92-108

Vol. 2 No. 1

January, 2018

European Journal of Economics, Law and Social Sciences

IIPCCL Publishing, Graz-Austria

ISSN 2519-1284

Acces online at www.iipccl.org

92

TheInuenceofHRMPracticesandEnvironmentalFactorsonJobPerfor-

mance of Internal Customers of Call Centre Industry

Yoshifumi Harada

Faculty of Management Sciences, Prince of Songkla University, Songkhla, Thailand; and

School of Business Innovation and Technoprenuership, University Malaysia Perlis

Thishvan Sendera

School of Business Innovation and Technoprenuership, University Malaysia Perlis

Ndanusa Mohammed Manzuma-Ndaaba

School of Business Innovation and Technoprenuership, University Malaysia Perlis

Abstract

Environmental factors has being responsible for job performance of employees otherwise

calledinternalcustomers inmanysectorhoweverlile studiesintegratedthese factorswith

HumanResourceManagementHRMSpecicallythisstudyaimedatapplyingthesefactors

to volatile customer centric industry called the call centre. This is one industry that has all her

indices and performances rated from the perception of customer. The study applied multiple

regressionsand spearmansranking order to analyze the data the resultshows signicant

contribution to both theory and practice This study armed that there exist a positive

relationship between job performance of internal customers of call centre and training,

incentivegoalseingandenvironmentalfactorsasempiricallyjustiedbythendings

Keywords Internal customer of organization call centre HRM practices Environmental

factors, Job performance

Introduction

The call centre industry is one of the most rapidly growing service providers in

thedeveloped worldtoday Staples Dalrymple Phipps The reason isnot

farfetched Call centres are employed in diverse industries including nancial

services, insurance, retail, information technology, and telecommunications. As the

worldisgeingmorecompetitivedaybydayanorganizationshouldbeproactiveto

putinenormouseorttoremaincompetitiveandsustainableInternalcustomersof

an organization are considered to be part of the intangible assets of an organization.

They are a precious commodity that forms a signicant part of an organizations

value. In other words, internal customers are referred to as the employee of the

organization.

Unlikethe external customersjob performance of internalcustomers is signicant

to the success of an organization. It is a major responsibility of an organization to

enhance the job performance of the employees through conducive work environment.

Astheperformanceofemployeesissignicantforanorganizationthemanagement

or the employers should consider improving the performance of employees in their

European Journal of Economics, Law and Social Sciences

IIPCCL Publishing, Graz-Austria

Vol. 2 No. 1

January, 2018

ISSN 2519-1284

Acces online at www.iipccl.org

93

organizations by encouraging them to do their tasks and duties as eciently and

eectivelyaspossible inlinewith thegoalsandsettargetsAccording toBlumberg

and Pringle (1982), when an employee achieve high job performance, this will lead

another employee to increase their performance as well particularly if their exist

rewardsforeciencythroughtimelyorperiodicevaluation

DierencebetweenInternalandExternalCustomerofanOrganization

Recentresearchesinmanagementandmarketinghaveprovedthatemployeesarealso

customersofanorganizationYooChinYangThisisbecausethegenerated

the output of the organization and without them the organization cannot function. The

perspectiveisfromwithinandthatiswhytheterminternalisaachedYooChin

Yang, 2006). Just like the external customer who patronized the organization product,

the internal customers process the output. However, external customers are the

buyers, consumers or users of the product or services of an organization (Abdullateef,

IwuKareem  ManzumaNdaaba While external customers are concerned

withthequalityquantityaractionpricevaluedurabilityandotherbenetsofthe

output, internal customers are concerned with issues like security from economic

strainrecognition of their eort opportunity to contributeideasand suggestions

participationindecisionmakingandmanagingtheaairscleardenitionsofduties

andresponsibilitiesandopportunitiesforpromotionfringebenetssoundpayment

structureincentive plansandprot sharing activitieshealth and safetymeasures

social securitycompensation communication communication system and nally

atmosphere of mutual trust respect (Kuria, 2011).

3.0 The Concept of Call Centre

According to Dawson (2004), call centres form an integral part of various industries

todayTheyplay anessentialrole in thebusiness world andare oen the primary

sourceof contact withexternalcustomers Borst Mandelbaumand Reiman 

mentioned that call centres may be regarded as “a service network where agents

provide telephone based services or, sometimes more generally online-services,

with customers and servers being remote from each other ”. Thus, a call centre is

a working environment in which the main business is conducted via a telephone

whilst simultaneously using display screen equipment DSE Call centres were

initially regarded as a cheaper means of communication compared to the ‘face-to-

facecontact Holdsworth  Cartwright  Howeverin recent years with the

advanced telecommunications and computer technology, call centres are seen as a

means of improving customer service facilities (Thishvan, 2016).

Based on an analysis conducted in December 2011 by Jabra and the institute of Frost

Sullivanitisknownthatamongthebiggestlimitationstoachievethegoalsofcall

centresto run eciently andprotably is the employeeturnover which canbe as

high as 50% annually in some environments. It must be kept in mind that it costs far

lesstoretain anexisting employeeas itdoes tohire anewoneThebenets tothis

are twofold: