Responsible brand leadership in services: fostering love, ethics, and empowerment

Recognizing the absence of clear guidance from marketing literature on the most effective leadership approach for brands, this study explores how brands, akin to human leaders, can strategically adopt responsible leadership. Thus, current research conceptualizes and examines responsible brand leadership's direct and indirect effects on brand-related variables, including brand love, positive ethical judgment, and customer empowerment. Moreover, it examines the influence of ethical judgment and customer empowerment on brand love. The proposed framework was tested in restaurant contexts due to its dynamic nature. Data from 358 diners were collected via a structured questionnaire, and hypotheses were tested using MPlus 8.3. This study establishes responsible brand leadership as a viable construct and offers compelling evidence that it leads to positive outcomes. Multigroup analysis further validates the effectiveness of responsible leadership across gender and restaurant type. Brand managers can adopt responsible brand leadership for enhanced brand reputation and positive customer relationships.