What makes restaurant employees become brand citizens?

We examined brand love and brand citizenship behavior in the restaurant industry, developing a study framework in which we proposed that the high-involvement human resource (HR) practices of recognition, empowerment, competence development, fair rewards, and information sharing would play an important role in determining the brand love that enhances brand citizenship behavior. We collected data from 476 frontline employees working in restaurants in Taiwan. The findings suggest that the HR practices of recognition, empowerment, competence development, fair rewards, and information sharing were crucial predictors of brand love. We also found that brand love mediated the link between business management and brand citizenship behavior, and had positive effects on brand-helping behavior, brand consideration, and brand enthusiasm. If managers can generate employees’ brand love, employees are likely to perform behaviors to assist with brand-related activities, follow brand guidelines while serving customers, have a positive attitude, and engage in behaviors contributing to values of the corporate brand.