Rachel Waldo

The aim of my research study is to explore the employee-brand relationships in luxury-brand organizations. More specifically, I investigate how strong positive affects toward the brand impact employees’ sense-making of work-related experiences. In my findings, I suggest that employees who express brand love also engage in stories of enchantment. In these stories, I argue, employees’ sense-making is framed by the narrative of enchantment in luxury branding. This is illustrated by the stories of out-of-the-ordinary events; and especially by some respondents’ stories that reconstruct the ordinariness of luxury work into something extraordinary and magical. Based on these findings, I discuss these stories of enchantment as part of a process of enchanted sense-making that is initiated by the enchantment narratives of luxury branding and employees’ love for the brand; and results in the (re-) enchantment of luxury work. I conclude that this process of enchanted sense-making authenticates the employee of luxury-brand organization as a luxury worker; simultaneously distancing him/her from the mass-market worker.