When People Management Backfires: A Qualitative Study of Unintended Consequences of Line Managers' Support for Employees

ABSTRACT This article examines how and why well‐intended people management can backfire, resulting in unintended consequences such as reduced well‐being and performance. Although people management—the combination of line managers' implementation of HR practices and their leadership behavior in supporting employees—is generally assumed to result in positive outcomes, emerging evidence suggests that benevolent line manager behavior may have adverse effects. However, insight into the underlying mechanisms through which such backfire occurs remains limited. To address this gap, we utilized a multi‐actor qualitative approach by conducting 55 interviews among line managers and employees in the Dutch hospital sector using the Critical Incident Technique. We identify three mechanisms through which backfire unfolds: (1) constrained communication in the context of policies and regulations, (2) overcompensation in the context of performance pressure, and (3) accountability in the context of conflicting fairness perceptions. Across these mechanisms, we show that backfire emerges not from poor managerial intent but from the interaction between line managers' intentions and behaviors, employees' interpretations, and structural constraints. By conceptualizing backfire as a structurally constrained and interactional process, this study advances people management research beyond dominant explanations focused on implementation quality or outcome trade‐offs, and highlights the importance of context in shaping employee responses.