Bayesian Analysis of Abandonment in Call Center Operations. (8th October 2012)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Aktekin, Tevfik; Soyer, Refik
• Is Part Of: Applied stochastic models in business and industry. Volume 30:Number 2(2014:Mar./Apr.)
• Page Start: 141
• Page End: 156
• Publication Date: 2012-10-08
• Subjects: Stochastic analysis -- Periodicals; Stochastic processes -- Periodicals; Business mathematics -- Periodicals; Finance -- Mathematical models -- Periodicals; Industrial management -- Mathematical models -- Periodicals; 338.00151923
• DOI: 10.1002/asmb.1949
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1524-1904

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" id="asmb1949-abs-0001"> <title> <x xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <p id="asmb1949-para-0001">In this paper, we consider the modeling and the inference of abandonment behavior in call centers. We present several time to event modeling strategies, develop Bayesian inference for posterior and predictive analyses, and discuss implications on call center staffing. Different family of distributions, piecewise time to abandonment models, and mixture models are introduced, and their posterior analysis with censored abandonment data is carried out using Markov chain Monte Carlo methods. We illustrate the implementation of the proposed models using real call center data, present additional insights that can be obtained from the Bayesian analysis, and discuss implications for different customer profiles. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.</p> </abstract>