Freedom or control? Liberals’ versus conservatives’ responses to frontline employee behavioral control policies

Abstract Frontline employee behavioral control policies have traditionally been viewed solely as operational tools, hidden from public view. In today’s digital and social media era, however, these policies are increasingly transparent to consumers. We investigate how consumers respond to employee control policies and propose that consumer responses are contingent on political ideology. Using different industries, employing various manipulations of behavioral control, and capturing diverse consumer responses, we test this proposition across seven studies. The results show that liberal consumers respond more positively to loose rather than strict behavioral control policies, whereas conservative consumers are largely indifferent. Social dominance orientation drives the difference in consumer responses by influencing the extent to which consumers oppose or accept dominance-based hierarchies signaled by strict behavioral control. The effect of political ideology is mitigated when the power asymmetry between the firm and employees is smaller (i.e., when the control is applied to higher-status employees or in firms with lower power). Finally, both liberal and conservative consumers prefer strict control policies when the likelihood of service failure is high. Our findings offer actionable guidance for managers on how to communicate employee behavioral control policies across different consumer segments, organizational settings, and service industry conditions.