Is satisfaction the key? The role of citizen satisfaction, place attachment and place brand attitude on positive citizenship behavior

•Citizen satisfaction is an under-researched topic in urban research.•This study (N = 765) empirically shows the positive outcomes of citizen satisfaction.•Citizen satisfaction is a main driver for positive citizenship behavior.•Citizen satisfaction also increases place attachment and place brand attitude.

Even though satisfaction is a main research topic in many disciplines (especially in marketing and organizational studies), surprisingly few attempts have been made to discern the role of satisfaction in the field of urban research, at least compared to other concepts such as place attachment. The aim of this paper is to empirically show the role of citizen satisfaction in this field, highlighting its strong influence on place attachment, place brand attitude and positive citizenship behavior.Our empirical study (N = 765) shows that the satisfaction of citizens (using the Citizen Satisfaction Index (CSI) measurement) should be implemented in urban research, since this factor shows a high-explained variance for place attachment, place brand attitude and positive citizenship behavior. Additionally, this study raises the question of whether the commonly suggested antecedents of place attachment (i.e., place of birth and length of residence) are enough to explain when people create a strong bond with a place of living – or if citizen satisfaction can provide a better explanation.