Never cross the red line? Analysing employment relations practices and the behaviour of front-line managers in Chinese McDonald's stores

Based on a qualitative case study of McDonald's stores in China, this article examines the behaviour of front-line managers (FLMs) in employment relations practices. The findings first identify different types of FLMs' behaviours, taking into account the degree of role conflict in their managerial work and the varying pressure to respond to corporate human resource management/employment relations (HRM/ERs) policies. Second, the findings illustrate that the behaviours of FLMs are also shaped by the external ER regulatory context, which is related to regulatory constraints (or voids) and their implementation (or not) and third, that FLMs tend to exert their own agency in responding to HRM/ER policies when facing increased role conflict.