| Abstract | |
| Survey Number | H015 |
| Survey Title | International Comparative Survey on Recruitment and Human Resources Development in Call Centers, 2006 |
| Depositor | Hiroki Sato (Former Name:Department of Research on the Staffing Industry, Institute of Social Science, The University of Tokyo) |
| Restriction of Use |
For detailed information, please refer to 'For Data Users' on the SSJDA website.
- Apply to SSJDA. SSJDA's approval is required. |
| Educational Purpose | Only available for research. |
| Period of Data Use Permission | One year |
| Access to Datasets | Download |
| SSJDA Data Analysis | Not available |
| Summary |
This survey canvassed corporate call centers to clarify the employment status and treatment of personnel at call centers that provide customer service by telephone (and some Internet media including e-mail). The purpose of the survey can be summarized in the following three points: 1. Clarification of basic facts related to employment at call centers As the service economy and information technology progress, the call center business continues to expand. Although the number of workers in Japan is increasing rapidly, social science research on the employment status of call center personnel is extremely scarce, except for sporadic studies in some regions. This survey will provide data for further empirical verification of this situation. 2. Understanding the reality of the treatment of call center workers Many issues are said to surround the treatment of call center employees. Many call center staff (called "operators") who field customers’ calls are not full-time employees but rather temporary or contract workers, many of whom work part-time. These non-regular operators are the core of call center operations, but their employment relationships are not always stable, and their turnover rate is said to be relatively high. These have become important issues in call center personnel management. Hence, clarifying the actual situation and exploring solutions to these problems are of great social significance. 3. International comparative research This research was conducted as part of a collaborative research project in which researchers from the United States, France, the United Kingdom, and other countries around the world formed a network and used a common framework and questionnaire to make highly accurate international comparisons. In an international comparative study of employment systems, the question is how to deal with differences in technological factors among countries––but the technologies (equipment and systems) used in call centers around the world are basically the same. Therefore, this is an appropriate research field to elucidate the influence of social and institutional factors on the employment system by controlling for technological factors. This public dataset only includes data for Japan. |
| Data Type | quantitative research: micro data |
| Universe | Call centers that belong to companies as confirmed by preliminary research |
| Unit of Observation | Individual,Organization |
| Sample Size |
159 call centers *Includes cases in which different call centers within the same company responded to the survey |
| Date of Collection |
2006-07-01 ~ 2006-07-01 2006/07/01 |
| Time Period |
2006 ~ 2006 |
| Spatial Unit | |
| Sampling Procedure | |
| Mode of Data Collection |
This survey was conducted in two stages, as follows: 1. In the first stage, to identify companies with call centers as target survey respondents, a list of companies that are likely to have call centers was compiled using related materials, and a simple questionnaire was administered to them. 2. Based on the results of the first survey, a list of companies confirmed to have call centers was created, and this survey was administered to each call center as the second survey through their parent companies. |
| Investigator | Department of Research on the Staffing Industry, Institute of Social Science, The University of Tokyo |
| DOI | 10.34500/SSJDA.H015 |
| Sponsors (Funds) | |
| Related Publications (by the Investigator) | Please refer to the abstract in Japanese. |
| Related Publications (based on Secondary Analysis) | List of related publications (based on Secondary Analysis) |
| Documentation | 【 Questionnaire 】 |
| Major Survey Items |
(1) Call center operations and employees Respondent's job title, number of call centers, year of call center’s establishment, type of business, business strategy, employees, customers served, staff's customer service hours, staff’s absenteeism rate, staff’s average age, average length of service, education level, percentage of women on staff, etc. (2) Human resource management Salary system and performance appraisal, education and training, employment and labor relations, performance management, job design, etc. (3) Performance, customer satisfaction, and customer contact Business performance (labor cost ratio, personnel planning, etc.), customer satisfaction and customer contact (feedback, handling of complaints, etc.) (4) Technology Use of voice recognition devices or automatic voice response devices, etc. (5) Managers Manager's education level, managers’ average age, years of service, salary, benefits, etc. (6) Supervisors Education level, supervisors’ average age, years of service, role, etc. (7) Regional and social environment Advantages of the center's current region, use of local government and regional public sector services, impact on recruitment of the presence of other call centers in the region, use of consultants, etc. *For details of survey items, please refer to the questionnaire. |
| Date of Release | 2014/06/16 |
| Topics in CESSDA |
Click here for details LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT Labour relations/conflict Business/industrial management and organisation |
| Topics in SSJDA | Employment/Labor |
| Version | 1 ： 2014-06-16 |
| Notes for Users | This survey was conducted as an international comparative survey. The survey used a common framework and common questionnaire in the United States, France, the United Kingdom, and other countries around the world, but these published data are limited to the data collected in Japan. |