Reputation, brand and the practices for forming service professionals: study case in a restaurant chain

Abstract

This paper discusses how to prepare a new service employees team according to the company´s policy towards maintaining it´s brand´s reputation. In order to understand practical aspects during service professionals´ qualification process, it was chosen a single case study conducted at DiPaolo Group of restaurants, in the course of a new unit implementation. Following the methodology proposed by Yin (2005), data were collected and analyzed mainly based on theoretical findings by Chun (2005), Zeithaml, Bitner and Gremler (2014) and Robbins (2005) using document review, spontaneous interviews and participative observation. Founder has been perceived as the main connecting link between brand´s reputation and employees´ formation. It has been noticed the need for formal explanations of corporative culture in order to favor newcomers´ socialization and, therefore, influence their behavior.