The Diverging Convergence in ICT-driven Employment Relations :A Comparative Case Study of Korean Call Centers

This paper examines work and employment relations in call centers by drawing upon a case study of four different companies in the financial and telecommunications services. The call center industry, as a newly emerging sector driven by ICTs(Information and Communication Technologies), provides useful insights to explore how service work is organized as well as what consist of new employment relations. Our comparative study finds commonalities that employment systems of Korean call centers are converging toward a variant of low wage model which comprises externalization of employment relations, electronic work control, bureaucratic supervision, and quality-focused performance monitoring. At the same time, there are some inter-sectoral variations in the type of non-regular workers used, the extent of skill training, work control, and career development. This divergence can be explained by varying complexity and risks of their respective call center operations, such as the nature of service products, market competition, customer behavior, and statutory regulations.Kew word: call center, telecommunications service industry, finance industry, employment relations, diverging convergence, customer service representative