Luxury brands may influence more than consumer behavior: they can also affect how employees understand the value of their work, according to organizational researcher Rachel Waldo of Lund University.
Based on 39 in-depth interviews with employees in different roles at luxury houses belonging to LVMH, Waldo examined how brands contribute to experiences of meaningful work. Her research included people working in legal, marketing and administrative positions, rather than only designers or product creators.
The dissertation introduces the concept of “brand enchantment.” Waldo uses the term to describe how employees form an emotional connection with a brand by adopting and maintaining symbolic meanings associated with it, including craftsmanship, creativity, heritage, beauty, exclusivity and prestige.
These associations can help employees see their responsibilities as part of something larger than their daily tasks. They may also make work feel more enjoyable or less routine, even when an employee’s role is far removed from the creative image commonly associated with a luxury house.
One interviewee, Mathieu, held a senior sales position and had felt connected to the brand’s products since his youth. He continued to wear the same fragrance decades after joining the company. When work became difficult, he drew inspiration from the house’s haute couture creations and their links to the founder’s artistic vision and craftsmanship. Waldo says these reminders helped him reconnect with the brand’s glamorous identity and deal with workplace frustrations.
However, the research does not portray employees as passive recipients of corporate messaging. Workers actively interpret brand values and may also notice conflicts between those ideals and the realities of the organization.
Maelle, who worked in packaging development for a luxury wine and spirits house, described tensions between cost reduction and mass-market pressures on one hand, and the brand’s emphasis on craftsmanship, rarity and excellence on the other. Despite these frustrations, she remained strongly attached to the company’s know-how and production expertise. Understanding the products’ history and manufacturing process allowed her to view her work as contributing to the brand’s heritage and success.
These findings led Waldo to propose a second concept: “brand-enchanted meaningful work.” She defines it as an experience in which work gains meaning from the brand’s symbolic associations and the emotions they generate. In this view, employees find significance not only in their duties, but also in what the brand represents to them.
Waldo argues that research on meaningful work has traditionally emphasized job design, leadership, personal values and workplace relationships. Her work instead identifies the brand as a less explored source of meaning and examines the emotional processes through which that meaning develops.
Her doctoral thesis, “Brand-enchanted meaningful work: Employees’ constructions of their work as meaningful in luxury-brand organisations,” was completed at the Lund University School of Economics and Management.
Sources: Phys.org.