An explanation of cross-national variation in call centre job quality using institutional theory

Abstract

Employment regime theory is used to examine whether cross-national variation in call centre job quality is a result of differences in national institutional regime, i.e. inclusivist, dualist and market regimes. Analysis of an establishment-level survey of 1734 call centres revealed that, as expected, call centre job quality was highest in inclusivist regimes (Denmark, Sweden) and higher in dualist regimes (Austria, France) than in market regimes (Canada, UK, USA). Job quality in Germany, a dualist regime, was of a similar level to that in inclusivist regimes. There was also evidence that, only within dualist regimes, job quality was higher in call centres attached to larger firms than in independent call centres. The findings suggest that national institutional regimes are still sufficiently different and influential to produce cross-national variations in job quality, and have not been weakened and homogenized as a result of the internationalization of national economies.