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Impact of Delay Announcements in Call Centers: An Empirical Approach

Author

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  • Zeynep Akşin

    (College of Administrative Sciences and Economics, Koç University, 34450 Sariyer-Istanbul, Turkey)

  • Baris Ata

    (Booth School of Business, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637)

  • Seyed Morteza Emadi

    (Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599)

  • Che-Lin Su

    (Formerly at the Booth School of Business, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois)

Abstract

We undertake an empirical study of the impact of delay announcements on callers’ abandonment behavior and the performance of a call center with two priority classes. A Cox regression analysis reveals that in this call center, callers’ abandonment behavior is affected by the announcement messages heard. To account for this, we formulate a structural estimation model of callers’ (endogenous) abandonment decisions. In this model, callers are forward-looking utility maximizers and make their abandonment decisions by solving an optimal stopping problem. Each caller receives a reward from service and incurs a linear cost of waiting. The reward and per-period waiting cost constitute the structural parameters that we estimate from the data of callers’ abandonment decisions as well as the announcement messages heard. The call center performance is modeled by a Markovian approximation. The main methodological contribution is the definition of an equilibrium in steady state as one where callers’ expectation of their waiting time, which affects their (rational) abandonment behavior, matches their actual waiting time in the call center, as well as the characterization of such an equilibrium as the solution of a set of nonlinear equations. A counterfactual analysis shows that callers react to longer delay announcements by abandoning earlier, that less patient callers as characterized by their reward and cost parameters react more to delay announcements, and that congestion in the call center at the time of the call affects caller reactions to delay announcements.

Suggested Citation

  • Zeynep Akşin & Baris Ata & Seyed Morteza Emadi & Che-Lin Su, 2017. "Impact of Delay Announcements in Call Centers: An Empirical Approach," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 65(1), pages 242-265, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:oropre:v:65:y:2017:i:1:p:242-265
    DOI: 10.1287/opre.2016.1542
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    2. Baris Ata & Xiaoshan Peng, 2018. "An Equilibrium Analysis of a Multiclass Queue with Endogenous Abandonments in Heavy Traffic," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 66(1), pages 163-183, January.
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    5. Yuan, Xuchuan & Brian Hwarng, H., 2023. "Examining the dynamics of reactive capacity allocation through a chaos lens," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 308(2), pages 912-928.
    6. Baris Ata & Peter W. Glynn & Xiaoshan Peng, 2017. "An equilibrium analysis of a discrete-time Markovian queue with endogenous abandonments," Queueing Systems: Theory and Applications, Springer, vol. 86(1), pages 141-212, June.
    7. Bolandifar, Ehsan & DeHoratius, Nicole & Olsen, Tava, 2023. "Modeling abandonment behavior among patients," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 306(1), pages 243-254.
    8. Kaan Kuzu & Long Gao & Susan H. Xu, 2019. "To Wait or Not to Wait: The Theory and Practice of Ticket Queues," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 21(4), pages 853-874, October.
    9. Barış Balcıog̃lu & Odysseas Kanavetas, 2022. "A dynamic prioritization policy for the callback option in a call center," Flexible Services and Manufacturing Journal, Springer, vol. 34(1), pages 40-64, March.

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