Drawing the line: how inspectors enact deviant behaviors

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PurposeThe paper seeks to show frontline employee sensemaking in service encounters. The purpose is to reveal the processual nature of the dysfunctional behavior category and to point out the dilemmas that organizations face when drawing the line between what is acceptable and what is not.Design/methodology/approachThe paper focuses on fare evasion management in urban bus transport, and more specifically on control interactions between ticket inspectors and passengers. Thanks to an ethnographic study of inspection work and to a dramaturgical approach to control interactions, the paper accounts for the process of fraud enactment.FindingsThe paper gives insight into a specialized service related activity: frontline inspection. It shows how different types of fare evasion behaviors are identified, qualified and eventually enacted. In addition, it points out three types of dilemmas in deviant behavior management: service/sanction; offense focused perspective/dysfunctional behavior management perspective and control outcome effectiveness/control outcome visibility.Research limitations/implicationsFurther research is needed to generalize the results. Moreover this original enactment perspective may not be restricted to service encounters, and future research work should address other aspects of the dysfunctional behavior enactment process.Practical implicationsManagers should take into consideration the organizational complexity involved in dysfunctional behaviors' management. A collective inquiry into their organization's participation in the shaping of these behaviors is especially recommended; so is a specific focus on front line employees' management, given their importance in the enactment of deviant behaviors.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to the theory of deviant clients' behaviors and brings a processual and social‐constructive perspective.