The Effect of Social Support on the Relationship 
between Emotional Labour and Wellbeing in Call 
Centre Employees 
 
 
Danica Liebenberg 
 
 
 
 
A research project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MA 
by coursework and Research Report in the field of Industrial Psychology in the Faculty of 
Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 9 February, 2011. 
 
I declare that this research report is my own, unaided work. It has not been submitted before 
for any other degree or examination at this or any other University 
 
 
 
 
Danica Liebenberg 
9 February 2011 
 
Word Count: 15713 
 
 
 
 
 
ABSTRACT 
 
In order examine different types of social support (emotional and instrumental) from different 
sources of social support (colleague and supervisor) as potential moderators of the 
relationship between emotional labour and psychological wellbeing and intention to leave in 
call centre employees, a study involving 184 call centre employees within a prominent 
Johannesburg financial institution in the banking sector was conducted. Participants 
voluntarily completed four questionnaires, namely Brotheridge and Lee?s (2003) Emotional 
Labour Scale, Caplan, Cobb, French, Van Harrison and Pinneau?s (1980) Social Support 
Scale, the twelve-item version of the General Health Questionnaire (Goldberg, 1972) and 
O?Driscoll and Beehr?s (1994) Turnover Intentions Scale. Moderated Multiple Regression 
Analyses were used explore possible main and interaction effects of the independent and 
moderator variables.   
 
Results indicate significant main effects of each type and source of support on the dependent 
variables of psychological wellbeing and intention to leave. With regard to support as a 
potential moderator, both emotional and instrumental support from supervisors were found to 
have had moderating effects on the relationship between emotional labour and intention to 
leave. In particular, support from supervisors altered the direction of the relationship between 
emotional labour and intention to leave by inverting it to a positive value, suggesting that in 
the event of the experience of emotional labour, supervisor support increases the intention of 
the individual to leave the organisation. Therefore findings of the current research offer that 
despite prior literature to the contrary, emotional labour may not always serve to increase 
employee turnover intentions.  In addition, the role of supervisor social support in mitigating 
working conditions and employee turnover intentions is questioned. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 
 
I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the following people whose role was integral 
in the completion of this research report: 
 
? My supervisor, Colleen Bernstein, for her encouragement, guidance, patience and 
unwavering support. 
 
? My friends, family and fianc?e for their unconditional belief, love and support and for 
always encouraging me to follow my dreams. 
 
? My heavenly father, for walking this journey by my side. 
 
? The call centre manager and employees who allowed me to share in their experience. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
Chapter 1: Introduction and Research Outline      1 
1.1. Introduction          1 
1.2. Research Outline          2 
 
Chapter 2: Theoretical and Conceptual Background     3 
2.1. Stress           3 
 2.1.1. Introduction         3 
 2.1.2. Models of Stress        3 
 2.1.3. The Transactional Model of Stress      4 
2.1.4. The Call Centre Environment       7 
2.2. Emotional Labour and Psychological Wellbeing     8 
2.3. Emotional Labour and Intention to Leave      9 
2.4. Social Support          10 
2.4.1. Introduction- Defining Social Support      10 
 2.4.2. Types of Social Support       11 
 2.4.3. Sources of Social Support       11 
 2.4.4. The Main Effect of Social Support      12 
2.4.5. Moderating Effect of Social Support      13 
2.4. Research Objective         14 
 
Chapter 3: Methodology         18 
3.1. Research Design          18 
3.2. The Model          18 
3.3. Sample           19 
3.4. Measures           21 
3.5. Procedure           23 
3.6. Scoring Procedure         24 
3.7. Statistical Analysis         24 
 3.7.1. Moderated Multiple Regression      24 
3.7.2. Assumptions of Moderated Multiple Regression    26 
 3.7.2.1. Relationship of Biographical Variables    26 
 3.7.2.2. Absence of Outliers       26 
 3.7.2.3. Absence of Multicollinearity      26 
 3.7.2.4. Normality, Linearity and Homoscedasticity of Residuals  27 
 3.7.2.5. Measurement Error       27 
 
Chapter 4: Results          28 
4.1. Tests of Assumptions of Moderated Multiple Regression    28 
4.1.1. Relationship of Biographical Variables     28 
4.1.2. Absence of Outliers        31 
 4.1.3. Normality, Linearity and Homoscedasticity of Residuals   31 
 4.1.4. Measurement Error        31 
4.1.5. Absence of Multicollinearity       32 
4.2. Results of Moderated Multiple Regression Analyses     34 
 4.2.1. Psychological Wellbeing       34 
 4.2.2. Intention to Leave        39 
4.3. Results Summary          44 
 
Chapter 5: Discussion         46 
5.1. Limitations and Directions for Future Research      54 
5.2. Conclusion          57 
 
References           58 
 
Appendices           67 
 Appendix A- Survey         67 
 Appendix B- Request for Access Letter      73 
 Appendix C- Participant Information Sheet      74 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
List of Figures 
Figure 1  The Transactional Model       6 
 
Figure 2  Main and Moderating Effect of Social Support    14 
 
Figure 3  The Transactional-Michigan Model of Stress    16 
 
List of Tables 
Table 1  Demographic Details of Sample      20 
 
Table 2  Independent Samples T-tests Comparison of Gender for Psychological 
  Wellbeing and Intention to Leave      28 
 
Table 3  One-way Analyses of Variance Comparisons of Education, Marital  
status and Ethnicity for Psychological Wellbeing and Intention to Leave 29 
 
Table 4  Pearson Product-Moment Correlations between Age, Number of  
Dependents, Psychological Wellbeing and Intention to Leave  30 
 
Table 5  Cronbach?s Alpha Internal Consistency Estimates for Measurement 
  Instruments         32 
 
Table 6  Pearson Product-Moment Correlations between Emotional Labour, 
Social Support, Psychological Wellbeing and Intention to Leave  33 
 
Table 7  Moderated Multiple Regression for Psychological Wellbeing on  
Emotional Labour and Colleague-Emotional Support   34 
 
Table 8  Moderated Multiple Regression for Psychological Wellbeing on  
Emotional Labour and Colleague-Instrumental Support   35 
 
Table 9  Moderated Multiple Regression for Psychological Wellbeing on  
Emotional Labour and Colleague-Instrumental Support- No  
Interaction Term        36 
 
Table 10  Moderated Multiple Regression for Psychological Wellbeing on  
Emotional Labour and Supervisor-Emotional Support   36 
 
Table 11  Moderated Multiple Regression for Psychological Wellbeing on  
Emotional Labour and Supervisor-Emotional Support - No  
Interaction Term        37 
 
Table 12  Moderated Multiple Regression for Psychological Wellbeing on  
Emotional Labour and Supervisor-Instrumental Support   38 
 
Table 13  Moderated Multiple Regression for Psychological Wellbeing on  
Emotional Labour and Supervisor-Instrumental Support - No  
Interaction Term        39 
 
Table 14  Moderated Multiple Regression for Intention to Leave on Emotional  
Labour and Colleague-Emotional Support     39 
 
Table 15  Moderated Multiple Regression for Intention to Leave on Emotional  
Labour and Colleague-Emotional Support- No Interaction Term  40 
 
Table 16  Moderated Multiple Regression for Intention to Leave on Emotional  
Labour and Colleague-Instrumental Support     41 
 
Table 17  Moderated Multiple Regression for Intention to Leave on Emotional  
Labour and Colleague-Instrumental Support- No Interaction Term  42 
 
Table 18  Moderated Multiple Regression for Intention to Leave on Emotional  
Labour and Supervisor-Emotional Support     43 
 
Table 19  Moderated Multiple Regression for Intention to Leave on Emotional  
Labour and Supervisor-Instrumental Support     44