Customer loyalty to one service worker: Should it be discouraged?

Abstract

Customer relationships with service personnel have been recognised as a means by which a firm can gain service loyalty. However, loyalty to any one service worker (personal loyalty) has been generally discouraged by management due to the vulnerability of customer retention in situations where key employees leave the firm. We examine a personal services context where loyalty to an individual service worker is commonly formed and employee turnover is high. It was found that both perceived credibility of the service worker and the degree of personal loyalty were the most important contributors to service business loyalty. Hence rather than fear, and therefore discourage personal loyalty from de..