An investigation of the factors that influence job satisfaction of call center agents in Nairobi province

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate on the factors intluencing job satisfaction of call center agents in Nairobi Province. The researcher found it important to investigate the factors influencing job satisfaction of call center agents as they determine the success of any call center. The main objectives of the .study was to investigate on how the following factors affect job satisfaction among call center agents in Nairobi province and these were; job design, motivation, quality of supervision, career growth and the perceived status of the job. The call center industry in Kenya is expected to grow tremendously due to the completion of the Fibre Optic Cable and it's expected to translate to high quality data and internet services at much more affordable rates. Kenya is also making great strides to partake a piece of the cake in Business Process Outsourcing. It's expected that there will be more call centers established in Kenya due to improved telecommunication infrastructure resulting to job creation for call center agents. Most call centers all over the world are faced with issues of Job Satisfaction of call center agents resulting to poor performance by the call center. In this paper the researcher attempted to analyse all the variables mentioned above and investigate how they influence job satisfaction of call center agents in Nairobi province. The data was collected through closed ended questionnaires which were self administered and emailed to the respondents from three selected call centers in Nairobi Province. The data collected was then analysed using both qualitative and quantitative statistical methods. The findings showed that all the variables mentioned above influenced job satisfaction of call center agents in Nairobi province. From the findings, the perceived status of call center work was very low by both the call center agents and from other departments within the same organisation. This applied mainly to in-house call centers. It was also observed that there was lack of career growth in the call centers. In addition the levels of motivation remained extremely low. The findings also showed that the quality of supervision was more task focused and the management had to do something about the job design as all these were influencing job satisfaction of the call center agents in the three call centers. Finally recommendations from the findings were made which will assist call center management to identify ways of enhancing job satisfaction in the call center leading to an improved working environment in the call center.