Will Frontline Employees Feel Betrayed When Firms are Unjust to Customers? A Trickle-In Effect via Role Conflict

The conventional wisdom in service and organizational frontline research suggests that if a firm treats employees well, its employees will treat customers well. Combining survey data of current frontline employees (FLEs) with experimental data, our research suggests that, in addition to this “trickle-out effect,” there is also a “trickle-in effect,” wherein the exchange quality of the customer–organization interface may inversely influence that of the employee–organization interface. As boundary-spanners, FLEs may feel betrayed when they perceive organizational injustice toward customers by their firms. This effect is mediated by role conflict. This is because organizational injustice toward customers often prevents FLEs from fulfilling their dual role expectations of serving both organizations and external customers. Other times, these policies may be inherently incompatible with FLEs’ own job expectations. Intensified inter- and intrarole conflict could, in turn, lead to FLEs’ feelings of betrayal and contract violation. In addition, we found that the mediating effect of role conflict is simultaneously moderated by both organizational and customer identification. Only when FLEs hold strong identification with both parties are the negative consequences of organizational injustice toward customers carried through role conflict.