Taking Sides - How Service Frontline Employees Choose Between Their Company and Their Customers in Role Conflict Situations

Role conflict is a highly salient theme in the literature on service frontline employees. Despite this, we still know little about how frontline employees decide which side to favor when faced with contradictory expectations by customers and their own organization. This research aims to develop a better understanding of this decision process. Using a qualitative approach, we find support for the five approaches to dealing with role conflict discussed in the literature as well as a sixth way. We identify several factors influencing this decision. We present limitations of our study as well as an outlook for further research.