Is loyalty still a merit for employees?

Chang, K

Abstract

This research investigated group reactions to disloyal and loyal members via two experiments.
Experiment One analysed the loyal membership versus behaviour evaluation, whereas the Experiment
Two focused on the emotional and sanction reactions against disloyal members. For both experiments, the
loyalty (disloyalty) was operationalized in terms of staying in (leaving) a group when leaving is personally
beneficial yet harmful to the group. Overall, research findings verified that disloyal members were still
evaluated more negatively than loyal members, especially when such members were of critical status. Further
analyses suggested that disloyal critical status members were disliked more because they had the potential to
undermine group identification. The findings affirmed that loyal membership was still crucial to the group,
especially for those critical-status managers and group leaders in real-life workplaces and organisations.
Implications on HRM strategies and advices to managerial practitioners are outlined.

Citation

Chang, K. Is loyalty still a merit for employees?. Shanglue xuebao, 4(4), 257-274

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Deposit Date: Apr 15, 2013
• Journal: International Journal of Commerce and Strategy
• Print ISSN: 2073-2147
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 4
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 257-274