Purpose This study investigates how intense dissatisfaction among frontline employees in the luxury retail sector leads to negative brand-oriented behaviours, conceptualized as employee brand hate. Design/methodology/approach A database of 2,721 negative employee reviews from Glassdoor.com was analysed using opinion mining, semi-supervised machine learning techniques and regression analysis. Findings The analysis of employee-generated content identified ten key drivers of negative word-of-mouth. These drivers were further examined through category ranking and comparative analyses across variables such as employee seniority and department. Practical implications Key issues identified from the employees’ perspective provide actionable strategic priorities for mitigating brand hate and strengthening internal brand perceptions. Originality/value This study extends the brand hate literature by examining employee-driven negative brand-oriented behaviours in the luxury retail sector.
Guzzetti et al. (Fri,) studied this question.