A common perception of call centres is that they are modern day sweatshops or
technological factories with customer service staff chained to their desks. Given that
working conditions in call centres are controversial, it seems that trade unions would
find call centres to be fertile grounds for recruitment. However, there is little
evidence that call centre employees have turned to trade unions in substantial
numbers. The research question that developed from this disjuncture became: What
do call centre staff think of unions? One of the methodologies that appeared to be
useful to answer that question was Means End Chain Analysis - a qualitative research
tool used in marketing research to deconstruct consumer decision-making. Means end
chain analysis looks at consumer product knowledge from the relationship of
attributes (means), values (ends – the desired state) and the connecting
consequences/benefits which link the attributes to the values (Gutman 1982). The
theory “proposes that consumer product knowledge is hierarchically organised,
spanning different levels of abstraction” (Reynolds, Gengler et al. 1995), and a
fundamental assumption that the model is based on is: “that values, defined here as
desirable end states of existence, play a dominant role in guiding choice patterns”
(Gutman 1982). In-depth semi-structured interviews were used with ten front line call
centre respondents from the Telecommunications and Finance industries. Initial
findings indicate that whilst respondents linked positive attributes to unions that
related to the functions they believed trade union performed. Respondents related
both negative consequences and positive benefits to the attributes, and clear links
were seen from these to the values level of the hierarchy.
Bernadine Cantrick-Brooks
University of Wollongong, NSW
technological factories with customer service staff chained to their desks. Given that
working conditions in call centres are controversial, it seems that trade unions would
find call centres to be fertile grounds for recruitment. However, there is little
evidence that call centre employees have turned to trade unions in substantial
numbers. The research question that developed from this disjuncture became: What
do call centre staff think of unions? One of the methodologies that appeared to be
useful to answer that question was Means End Chain Analysis - a qualitative research
tool used in marketing research to deconstruct consumer decision-making. Means end
chain analysis looks at consumer product knowledge from the relationship of
attributes (means), values (ends – the desired state) and the connecting
consequences/benefits which link the attributes to the values (Gutman 1982). The
theory “proposes that consumer product knowledge is hierarchically organised,
spanning different levels of abstraction” (Reynolds, Gengler et al. 1995), and a
fundamental assumption that the model is based on is: “that values, defined here as
desirable end states of existence, play a dominant role in guiding choice patterns”
(Gutman 1982). In-depth semi-structured interviews were used with ten front line call
centre respondents from the Telecommunications and Finance industries. Initial
findings indicate that whilst respondents linked positive attributes to unions that
related to the functions they believed trade union performed. Respondents related
both negative consequences and positive benefits to the attributes, and clear links
were seen from these to the values level of the hierarchy.
Bernadine Cantrick-Brooks
University of Wollongong, NSW
