UNDERSTANDING EMPLOYEE LOYALTY: A CONCEPTUAL REVIEW OF ITS ANTECEDENTS AND OUTCOMES
Keywords:
employee loyalty; employee engagement; work-life balance; organizational culture; leadership style
Abstract
Employee loyalty is an important factor in organizational success because it is associated with retention, service quality, and company performance. This study aims to identify factors related to employee loyalty and explain its impacts based on the literature. The study uses a conceptual and descriptive approach with data sources including books, journal articles, theses/dissertations, internet sources, and other related literature. The review indicates that employee loyalty is associated with job satisfaction, organizational culture, leadership style, work-life balance, employee engagement, ethical leadership, rewards, career development, communication with supervisors, and job enrichment. Employee loyalty also contributes to improved service quality and company performance and may reduce turnover tendencies. Organizations should pay attention to these factors to retain quality employees. Future studies are recommended to include additional factors to broaden and generalize understanding of employee loyalty.References
Abbas, M. (2017). The effect of organizational culture and leadership style towards employee engagement and their impact on employee loyalty. Asian Journal of Technology and Management Research, 7(2), 1-11.
Adedeji, A., Ugwumadu, O., & Obianuju C. (2018). Factors motivating employee loyalty and employee retention in Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria. International Journal of Human Resource Studies, 8(3), 300-313.
Aninkan, D. O., & Oyewole, A. A. (2014). The influence of individual and organizational factors on employee engagement. International Journal of Development and Sustainability, 3(6), 1381-1392.
Antonakis, J., Cianciolo, A. T., & Sternberg, R. J. (2004). Leadership: Past, present and future. In Antonakis, Cianciolo, A. J. & Sternberg R. J. (Eds.), The nature of leadership (pp.1-16). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Antoncic, J. A., & Antoncic, B. (2011). Employee loyalty and its impact on firm growth. Intern ational Journal of Management and Information Systems, 15(1), 81-87. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.19030/ijmis.v15i1.1598.
Avolio, B. J., Zhu, W., Koh, W., & Bhatia, P. (2004). Transformational leadership and organizational commitment: mediating role of psychological empowerment and
moderating role of structural distance. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 951-968. doi: 10.1002/job.283.
Beauregard, T. A. & Henry, L. C. (2009). Making the link between work-life balance practices and organizational performance. Human Resource Management Review, 19(1), 9-22. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S105348220800065X.
Becker, H.S. (1960). Notes on the concept of commitment. The American Journal of Sociology, 66(1), 32-40.
Bhattacharya, Y. (2015). Employee engagement as a predictor of seafarer retention: A study among Indian officers. The Asian Journal of Shipping and Logistics, 31, 295-318.
Cheki, Y. (1996). An analysis of china's corporate culture based model Kotler & Heskett. Businessman, 7(25).
Chen, Y. C., Chen, H. I., Tsui, P. L., & Chiang, Y. Chih. (2016). Contributing causes of employee loyalty of service personnel in international hotels. International Journal of Organizational Innovation, 9(1), 107-108.
Collins, B. J., Burrus, C. J. & Meyer, R. D. (2014). Gender differences in the impact of leadership styles on subordinate embeddedness and job satisfaction. The Leadership Quarterly, 25, 660-671.
Collins, T. (2019). 6 reasons why corporations should care about employee loyalty. Retrieved from https://www.viktorwithak.com/employee-loyalty-and-why-it-matters/.
Dadkhah, M. (2010). Customer-orientation. 6th (ed.). Tehran, IR: Shahr-e Ashub Publications.
Esmaeilpour, M. & Mohammad, R. (2018). Investigating the impact of commitment, satisfaction, and loyalty of employee on providing high-quality service to customers. Studies in Business and Economics, 13(1).
Esmaeilpour, M. & Ranibar, M. (2017). Investigating the impact of commitment, satisfaction, and loyalty of employees on providing high-quality service to customer. Romanian Economic and Business Review, 12(1), 82-98.
Fahey, L., & Prusak, L. (1998). The eleven deadliest sins of knowledge management. California Management Review, 40(3).
Firm. (2006). In Collins COBUILD advanced Learner’s English Dictionary. 5th (ed.). Glasgow, GBR: HarperCollins Publishers.
Firm. (2008). In Oxford Study Dictionary & Thesaurus. Oxford, AUS: Oxford University Press.
Ghafoor, A., Qureshi, T. M., Khan, M. A., & Hijazi, S. T. (2011). Transformational leadership, employee engagement and performance: Mediating effect of psychological ownership. African Journal of Business Management, 5(17), 7391-7403. doi: 10.5897/AJBM11.126.
Gill, D. R., (2011). Using storytelling to maintain employee loyalty during change. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 2(15), 23-32.
Gilson, L. (2008). Why be creative: A review of the practical outcomes associated with creativity at the individual, group, and organizational levels. In J. Zhou & C. E. Shalley (Eds.), Handbook of organizational creativity (pp. 303-322).
Haar, J. M., Sune, A., Russo, M., & Ollier-Malaterre, A. (2018). A cross-national study on the antecedents of work-life balance from the fit and balance perspective. Social Indicators Research, 142, 261-282. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11205-018-1875-6.
Han, H., Meng, B. & Kim, W. (2017). Bike-traveling as a growing phenomenon: Role of attributes, value, satisfaction, desire, and gender in developing loyalty. Tourism Management, 59, 91-103.
Hoek, J. (2013). What is employee loyalty?. Retrieved from https://www.effectory.com/knowledge/what-is-employee-loyalty/.
Hughes, R., Kinder, A., & Cooper, C. L. (2018). Work-life balance. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-92552-3_42.
Ibrahim, M. & Falasi, S. A. (2014). Employee loyalty and engagement in UAE public sector. Employee Relations, 36(5), 562-582. doi: 10.1108/ER-07-2013-0098.
Ineson, E. M., Benke, E. & László, J. (2013). Employee loyalty in Hungarian hotels. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 32, 31-39.
Kassa, T. (2015). Employee motivation and its effect on employee retention in Ambo Mineral Water Factory. International Journal of Advance Research in Computer Science and Management Studies, 3(3), 10-21.
Kulkarni, U. R., Ravindran, S., & Freeze, R. (2007). Knowledge management success model: theoretical development and empirical validation. Journal of Management Information Systems, 23(3), 309-347.
Lavlak, C., & Right, L. (2003). Marketing principles and services. Translated by Abolfazl Tajzadeh. Semat press.
Lee, T. W., Hom, P., Eberly, M. & Li, J. (2017). Managing employee retention and turnover with 21st century ideas. Organisational Dynamics
Longo, M. & Mura, M. 2011. The effect of intellectual capital on employees’ satisfaction and retention. Information & Management, 48, 278-287.
Loyal. (2008). In Oxford Study Dictionary & Thesaurus. Oxford, AUS: Oxford University Press.
Loyalty. (2006). In Collins COBUILD advanced Learner’s English Dictionary. 5th (ed.). Glasgow, GBR: HarperCollins Publishers.
Makizadeh, V. Haj Karimi, A., Jamalieh, B. (2010). Relationship between quality of service and customer loyalty in business services organizations. Journal of Management Perspective, 9(1), 27-49.
Masakure, O. (2016). The effect of employee loyalty on wages. Journal of Economic Psychology, 56, 274-298.
McCombes, S. (2020). Descriptive research. Retrieved from https://www.scribbr.com/methodology/descriptive-research/
Mehta, S., Singh, T., Bhakar, S., & Sinha, B. (2010). Employee loyalty towards organization. International Journal for Business Management and Economic Resources, 1(1), 98-108.
Milliman, J., Gatling, A., & Kim, J. (2018). The effect of workplace spirituality on hospitality employee engagement, intention to stay, and service delivery. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 35, 56-65.
Mwangi, E. K., & Omondi, M. (2016). Factors influencing staff retention in the banking industry in Kenya: A case study of Equity Bank Limited. The Strategic Business and Change Journal of Management, 3(20), 428-454.
Neves, P. (2011). Building commitment to change: The role of perceived supervisor support and competence. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 20(4), 437-450.
Niehoff, B.P., Moorman, R. H., Blakely, G. & Fuller, J. (2001). The influence of empowerment and job enrichment on employee loyalty in a downsizing environment. Group and Organization Management, 26(1), 93-113
Nitin. (2005). Employee engagement [Working paper series]. SIES College of Management Studies.
Pina e Cunha M. (2002) The best place to be: Managing control and employee loyalty in a knowledge-intensive company. Journal of Applied Behavioural Sciences, 38(4).
Rajput, S., Singhal, M., & Tiwari, S. (2016). Job satisfaction and employee loyalty: A study of academicians. Asian Journal of Management, 7(2), 105-109.
Rhoades, L., Eisenberger, R., & Armeli, S. (2001). Affective commitment to the organization: The contribution of perceived organizational support. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86, 825–836.
Jigjiddorj, S., Zanabazar, A., Tsogbadrakh, T., & Choijil, E. (2019). The Mediating effect of employee loyalty on the relationship between job satisfaction and organizational performance. Advances in Economics, Business and Management Research, 78, 197-201.
Schaufeli, W. B., & Bakker, A. B. (2004). Job demands, job resources and their relationship with burnout and engagement: A multi-sample study. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 25, 293-315. doi: org/10.1002/job.248.
Shabir, S. & Gani, A. (2020). Impact of work-life balance on organizational commitment of women health-care workers: Structural modeling approach. International Journal of Organizational Analysis. Retrieved from https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IJOA-07-2019-1820/full/html.
Shuck & Herd. (2012). Employee engagement and leadership: exploring the convergence of two frameworks and implications for leadership development in HRD. Human resource development review, 11(2), 156-181. doi: org/10.1177/1534484312438211.
Sturges, J. & Guest, D. (2006). Working to live or living too work? Work/life balance early in the career. Human Resource Management Journal, 14(4). Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1748-8583.2004.tb00130.x.
Syahriza, S., Patrisia, D., & Abror, A. (2019). Employee engagement, satisfaction and loyalty: Preliminary findings. Advances in Economics, Business and Management Research, 97, 713-719.
Tomic, I., Tesic, Z., Kuzmanovic, B., & Tomic, M. (2018). An empirical study of employee loyalty, service quality, cost reduction, and company performance. Economic research, 31(1), 827-846.
Tseng, L. M. & Wu, J. Y. (2017). How can financial organizations improve employee loyalty? The effects of ethical leadership, psychological contract fulfillment and organizational identification. Leadership and Organization Development Journal.
Uzma, W. A. (2015). Impact of training on employee’s performance. Business Management and Strategy, 6(1), 49-64.
Van Vugt, M. & Hart, C. (2004). Social identity as social glue: The origins of group loyalty. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86.
Wong, S. C. K. & Ko, A. (2009). Exploratory study of understanding hotel employees’ perception on work-life balance issues. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 28(2), 195-203. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278431908000595
Yee, R., Yeng, A., & Cheng, E. (2010). An Empirical study of employee loyalty, service quality and firm performance in the service industry. International journal production economics, 124(1), 109-120.
Yukl, G. (2006). Leadership in Organizations. Pearson Education. Upper Saddle River, NJ.
Adedeji, A., Ugwumadu, O., & Obianuju C. (2018). Factors motivating employee loyalty and employee retention in Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria. International Journal of Human Resource Studies, 8(3), 300-313.
Aninkan, D. O., & Oyewole, A. A. (2014). The influence of individual and organizational factors on employee engagement. International Journal of Development and Sustainability, 3(6), 1381-1392.
Antonakis, J., Cianciolo, A. T., & Sternberg, R. J. (2004). Leadership: Past, present and future. In Antonakis, Cianciolo, A. J. & Sternberg R. J. (Eds.), The nature of leadership (pp.1-16). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Antoncic, J. A., & Antoncic, B. (2011). Employee loyalty and its impact on firm growth. Intern ational Journal of Management and Information Systems, 15(1), 81-87. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.19030/ijmis.v15i1.1598.
Avolio, B. J., Zhu, W., Koh, W., & Bhatia, P. (2004). Transformational leadership and organizational commitment: mediating role of psychological empowerment and
moderating role of structural distance. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 951-968. doi: 10.1002/job.283.
Beauregard, T. A. & Henry, L. C. (2009). Making the link between work-life balance practices and organizational performance. Human Resource Management Review, 19(1), 9-22. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S105348220800065X.
Becker, H.S. (1960). Notes on the concept of commitment. The American Journal of Sociology, 66(1), 32-40.
Bhattacharya, Y. (2015). Employee engagement as a predictor of seafarer retention: A study among Indian officers. The Asian Journal of Shipping and Logistics, 31, 295-318.
Cheki, Y. (1996). An analysis of china's corporate culture based model Kotler & Heskett. Businessman, 7(25).
Chen, Y. C., Chen, H. I., Tsui, P. L., & Chiang, Y. Chih. (2016). Contributing causes of employee loyalty of service personnel in international hotels. International Journal of Organizational Innovation, 9(1), 107-108.
Collins, B. J., Burrus, C. J. & Meyer, R. D. (2014). Gender differences in the impact of leadership styles on subordinate embeddedness and job satisfaction. The Leadership Quarterly, 25, 660-671.
Collins, T. (2019). 6 reasons why corporations should care about employee loyalty. Retrieved from https://www.viktorwithak.com/employee-loyalty-and-why-it-matters/.
Dadkhah, M. (2010). Customer-orientation. 6th (ed.). Tehran, IR: Shahr-e Ashub Publications.
Esmaeilpour, M. & Mohammad, R. (2018). Investigating the impact of commitment, satisfaction, and loyalty of employee on providing high-quality service to customers. Studies in Business and Economics, 13(1).
Esmaeilpour, M. & Ranibar, M. (2017). Investigating the impact of commitment, satisfaction, and loyalty of employees on providing high-quality service to customer. Romanian Economic and Business Review, 12(1), 82-98.
Fahey, L., & Prusak, L. (1998). The eleven deadliest sins of knowledge management. California Management Review, 40(3).
Firm. (2006). In Collins COBUILD advanced Learner’s English Dictionary. 5th (ed.). Glasgow, GBR: HarperCollins Publishers.
Firm. (2008). In Oxford Study Dictionary & Thesaurus. Oxford, AUS: Oxford University Press.
Ghafoor, A., Qureshi, T. M., Khan, M. A., & Hijazi, S. T. (2011). Transformational leadership, employee engagement and performance: Mediating effect of psychological ownership. African Journal of Business Management, 5(17), 7391-7403. doi: 10.5897/AJBM11.126.
Gill, D. R., (2011). Using storytelling to maintain employee loyalty during change. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 2(15), 23-32.
Gilson, L. (2008). Why be creative: A review of the practical outcomes associated with creativity at the individual, group, and organizational levels. In J. Zhou & C. E. Shalley (Eds.), Handbook of organizational creativity (pp. 303-322).
Haar, J. M., Sune, A., Russo, M., & Ollier-Malaterre, A. (2018). A cross-national study on the antecedents of work-life balance from the fit and balance perspective. Social Indicators Research, 142, 261-282. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11205-018-1875-6.
Han, H., Meng, B. & Kim, W. (2017). Bike-traveling as a growing phenomenon: Role of attributes, value, satisfaction, desire, and gender in developing loyalty. Tourism Management, 59, 91-103.
Hoek, J. (2013). What is employee loyalty?. Retrieved from https://www.effectory.com/knowledge/what-is-employee-loyalty/.
Hughes, R., Kinder, A., & Cooper, C. L. (2018). Work-life balance. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-92552-3_42.
Ibrahim, M. & Falasi, S. A. (2014). Employee loyalty and engagement in UAE public sector. Employee Relations, 36(5), 562-582. doi: 10.1108/ER-07-2013-0098.
Ineson, E. M., Benke, E. & László, J. (2013). Employee loyalty in Hungarian hotels. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 32, 31-39.
Kassa, T. (2015). Employee motivation and its effect on employee retention in Ambo Mineral Water Factory. International Journal of Advance Research in Computer Science and Management Studies, 3(3), 10-21.
Kulkarni, U. R., Ravindran, S., & Freeze, R. (2007). Knowledge management success model: theoretical development and empirical validation. Journal of Management Information Systems, 23(3), 309-347.
Lavlak, C., & Right, L. (2003). Marketing principles and services. Translated by Abolfazl Tajzadeh. Semat press.
Lee, T. W., Hom, P., Eberly, M. & Li, J. (2017). Managing employee retention and turnover with 21st century ideas. Organisational Dynamics
Longo, M. & Mura, M. 2011. The effect of intellectual capital on employees’ satisfaction and retention. Information & Management, 48, 278-287.
Loyal. (2008). In Oxford Study Dictionary & Thesaurus. Oxford, AUS: Oxford University Press.
Loyalty. (2006). In Collins COBUILD advanced Learner’s English Dictionary. 5th (ed.). Glasgow, GBR: HarperCollins Publishers.
Makizadeh, V. Haj Karimi, A., Jamalieh, B. (2010). Relationship between quality of service and customer loyalty in business services organizations. Journal of Management Perspective, 9(1), 27-49.
Masakure, O. (2016). The effect of employee loyalty on wages. Journal of Economic Psychology, 56, 274-298.
McCombes, S. (2020). Descriptive research. Retrieved from https://www.scribbr.com/methodology/descriptive-research/
Mehta, S., Singh, T., Bhakar, S., & Sinha, B. (2010). Employee loyalty towards organization. International Journal for Business Management and Economic Resources, 1(1), 98-108.
Milliman, J., Gatling, A., & Kim, J. (2018). The effect of workplace spirituality on hospitality employee engagement, intention to stay, and service delivery. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 35, 56-65.
Mwangi, E. K., & Omondi, M. (2016). Factors influencing staff retention in the banking industry in Kenya: A case study of Equity Bank Limited. The Strategic Business and Change Journal of Management, 3(20), 428-454.
Neves, P. (2011). Building commitment to change: The role of perceived supervisor support and competence. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 20(4), 437-450.
Niehoff, B.P., Moorman, R. H., Blakely, G. & Fuller, J. (2001). The influence of empowerment and job enrichment on employee loyalty in a downsizing environment. Group and Organization Management, 26(1), 93-113
Nitin. (2005). Employee engagement [Working paper series]. SIES College of Management Studies.
Pina e Cunha M. (2002) The best place to be: Managing control and employee loyalty in a knowledge-intensive company. Journal of Applied Behavioural Sciences, 38(4).
Rajput, S., Singhal, M., & Tiwari, S. (2016). Job satisfaction and employee loyalty: A study of academicians. Asian Journal of Management, 7(2), 105-109.
Rhoades, L., Eisenberger, R., & Armeli, S. (2001). Affective commitment to the organization: The contribution of perceived organizational support. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86, 825–836.
Jigjiddorj, S., Zanabazar, A., Tsogbadrakh, T., & Choijil, E. (2019). The Mediating effect of employee loyalty on the relationship between job satisfaction and organizational performance. Advances in Economics, Business and Management Research, 78, 197-201.
Schaufeli, W. B., & Bakker, A. B. (2004). Job demands, job resources and their relationship with burnout and engagement: A multi-sample study. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 25, 293-315. doi: org/10.1002/job.248.
Shabir, S. & Gani, A. (2020). Impact of work-life balance on organizational commitment of women health-care workers: Structural modeling approach. International Journal of Organizational Analysis. Retrieved from https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IJOA-07-2019-1820/full/html.
Shuck & Herd. (2012). Employee engagement and leadership: exploring the convergence of two frameworks and implications for leadership development in HRD. Human resource development review, 11(2), 156-181. doi: org/10.1177/1534484312438211.
Sturges, J. & Guest, D. (2006). Working to live or living too work? Work/life balance early in the career. Human Resource Management Journal, 14(4). Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1748-8583.2004.tb00130.x.
Syahriza, S., Patrisia, D., & Abror, A. (2019). Employee engagement, satisfaction and loyalty: Preliminary findings. Advances in Economics, Business and Management Research, 97, 713-719.
Tomic, I., Tesic, Z., Kuzmanovic, B., & Tomic, M. (2018). An empirical study of employee loyalty, service quality, cost reduction, and company performance. Economic research, 31(1), 827-846.
Tseng, L. M. & Wu, J. Y. (2017). How can financial organizations improve employee loyalty? The effects of ethical leadership, psychological contract fulfillment and organizational identification. Leadership and Organization Development Journal.
Uzma, W. A. (2015). Impact of training on employee’s performance. Business Management and Strategy, 6(1), 49-64.
Van Vugt, M. & Hart, C. (2004). Social identity as social glue: The origins of group loyalty. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86.
Wong, S. C. K. & Ko, A. (2009). Exploratory study of understanding hotel employees’ perception on work-life balance issues. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 28(2), 195-203. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278431908000595
Yee, R., Yeng, A., & Cheng, E. (2010). An Empirical study of employee loyalty, service quality and firm performance in the service industry. International journal production economics, 124(1), 109-120.
Yukl, G. (2006). Leadership in Organizations. Pearson Education. Upper Saddle River, NJ.
Published
2026-09-09
How to Cite
Mandey, C. (2026). UNDERSTANDING EMPLOYEE LOYALTY: A CONCEPTUAL REVIEW OF ITS ANTECEDENTS AND OUTCOMES. Curve Elasticity: Jurnal Pendidikan Ekonomi, 7(2), 46-59. https://doi.org/10.57094/jpe.v7i2.5571
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Articles
