Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T07:01:24.833Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Loyalty in Business: Subversive Doctrine or Real Need?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2015

Domènec Mele
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

Loyalty within the firm, though praised by some, is criticized by others. An analysis of the historical and current significance of the concept of loyalty can aid in both understanding its critics and responding to them. Loyalty in the business world is generally understood in three ways: i) transactional retention, ii) sentimental attraction, and iii) willingness to commit oneself. In the third type, the commitment to adhere to a person, cause, or institution may contribute to human flourishing and therefore generate the human virtue of loyalty. The human virtue of loyalty is as far from fanaticism as it is from the betrayal of legitimate commitments freely undertaken. As with all virtues, its content must be rationally determined. Loyalty thus understood enhances the humanity of both persons and business firms and contributes to heightened cohesion and cooperation within the firm. Moreover, according to some recent research, managing a business on the basis of loyalty can enhance economic results.

Type
Loyalty
Information
Business Ethics Quarterly , Volume 11 , Issue 1 , January 2001 , pp. 11 - 26
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Business Ethics 2001

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aaker, D. A. 1992. Strategic Market Management. 3rd ed. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Aristotle. 1941. Nicomachean Ethics. In The Basic Works of Aristotle, trans, and introduction by McKeon, Richard. New York: Random House.Google Scholar
Axinn, S. 1997. “Loyalty.” In The Blackwell Encyclopedic Dictionary of Business Ethics, ed. Werhane, P. and Freeman, E.Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Babcock, P. 1986. Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged. Springfield, Mass.: Merrian-Webster.Google Scholar
Bhote, K. R. 1996. Beyond Customer Satisfaction to Customer Loyalty: the Key to Greater Profitability. AMA Management Briefing. New York: Amacom.Google Scholar
Carbone, J. H. 1997. “Loyalty: Subversive Doctrine?” Academy of Management Executive 11: 80–86.Google Scholar
Casares, J. 1984. Diccionario Ideológico de la Lengua Española. 2nd ed. Barcelona: Gustavo Gilí.Google Scholar
Clancy, J. J. 1999. The Old Dispensation: Loyalty in Business. Madison, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press.Google Scholar
Covarrubias, S. de. 1989/1611 and 1674. Tesoro de la Lengua Castellana o Española, ed. Riquer, Martín de. 2nd ed. Barcelona, Spain: Altafulla.Google Scholar
Coromines, J. 1985. Diccionari Etimologie i Complementan de la Llengua Catalana. Vol. V. Barcelona, Spain: Curial Edicions Catalanes/Caixa de Pensions “La Caixa”.Google Scholar
Ferrater Mora, J. 1994. Diccionario de Filosofía. Barcelona, Spain: Ariel.Google Scholar
Fletcher, G. P. 1993. Loyalty: An Essay on the Morality of Relationships. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Forrest, B. 1995. “Loyalty.” In International Encyclopedia of Ethics, ed. Roth, J. K.London: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers.Google Scholar
Guilbert, L.; Lagare, R.; and Niobey, G. 1989. Grand Dictionaire Larrousse de la Langue Française. Paris: Larousse.Google Scholar
Heskett, J. L.; Jones, T. O.; Loveman, G. W.; Sasser, W. E.; and Schlesinger, L. 1994. “Putting the Service-Profit Chain to Work.” Harvard Business Review, March-April, pp. 164–174.Google Scholar
Huete, L. M. 1997. Servicios y beneficios. Bilbao, Spain: Deusto.Google Scholar
Ishiguro, K. 1993. The Remains of the Day. New York: Vintage Books.Google Scholar
Jones, T O. and Sasser, W. Earl. 1995. “Why Satisfied Customers Defect.” Harvard Business Review, November-December, pp. 88–99.Google Scholar
L’Hour, J. 1985. La morale de VAlliance. Paris: Les Editions du Cerf.Google Scholar
Ladd, J. 1967. “Loyalty.” In The Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Vol. 5, ed. Edwards, P.New York: Macmillan and Free Press.Google Scholar
Lancaster, H. 1992. “A New Social Contract to Benefit Employer and Employees.” Wall Street Journal, 29 November, sec. B, p. 1.Google Scholar
Langenscheidts Grofiworterbuch Deutsch als Fremdsprache: das neue einsprachige Wôrterbuchfùr Deutschlernende, 1994. Zusammenarbeit mit der Langenscheidt-Redaktion. 2nd ed. Berlin: Langenscheidt.Google Scholar
Lowenstein, M. W. 1997. The Customer Loyalty Pyramid. New York: Greenwood.Google Scholar
Maclntyre, A. 1984. After Virtue. 2nd ed. Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press.Google Scholar
McCarthy, D. G. 1997. The Loyalty Link: How Loyal Employees Create Loyal Customers. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Oxford Dictionary of Current English. 1984. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Real Academia de la Lengua. 1992. Diccionario de la lengua española. 21st ed. Madrid: Espasa-Calpe.Google Scholar
Reichheld, F. 1993. “Loyalty-Based Management.” Harvard Business Review. March-April, pp. 64–73.Google ScholarPubMed
Reichheld, Frederick F. 1996. The Loyalty Effect. Boston: HBS Press.Google Scholar
Rousseau, J.-J. 1998. The Social Contract, trans. Cranston, Maurice. London: Penguin.Google Scholar
Royce, J. 1908. The Philosophy of Loyalty. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Thomas, Aquinas. 1981. Summa Theologiae. Westminster, Md.: Christian Classics (reprint from an edition dated 1948 under license granted by Bengiger, a division of Glencoe Publishing Co.).Google Scholar
Zingarelli, N. 1994. Vocabulario della Lingua Italiana. Bologna: Zanichelli.Google Scholar