Tripartite Employee Loyalty (TEL): Validation, Measurement and Selected Outcomes of a New Concept

Abstract

In this research, the new Tripartite Employee Loyalty (TEL) construct is developed and defined. The three crucial reference objects for employee loyalty, supervisor, working group, and organization, have never before been investigated simultaneously. This shortcoming is addressed with a 9-item measure derived from an intensive literature review. Initial construct validity evidence for the TEL construct is provided by an empirical study of 148 employees of a German service company. Applying factor analysis, TEL is shown to be distinct from organizational commitment. With regards to content validity, the present study highlights the importance of differentiating between reference objects when investigating employee loyalty and its outcomes. The selected loyalty outcomes, openness to leave, openness to reapply, and openness to change, differ within the subscales of loyalty to supervisor, loyalty to working group, and loyalty to organization. Correlation and multiple regression results strongly suggest that incomplete or inaccurate conceptualizations of employee loyalty lead the way to incorrect results and misleading interpretations. The resulting theoretical and practical implications are discussed in this paper, along with limitations of the study and recommendations for future research.