Employee loyalty: an exploration of staff commitment levels towards retailing, the retailer and the store

Securing the commitment of employees can generate a number of organisational benefits, such as reducing recruitment costs and improving interactions between customers and employees. For retailers, a loyal workforce can therefore represent a source of differentiation and competitive advantage. Despite this, few retail studies have explored employee loyalty and have instead focused upon the loyalty of customers. This quantitative and qualitative exploratory study of store employees in three UK retailers aims to explore how employee loyalty manifests itself in a retail context. It proposes that employee loyalty in this industry is multi-faceted and can be understood in relation to commitment to the retailing industry, the retailer and the store. The findings also suggest that, due to their domestic circumstances, female general assistants are more likely to be loyal to their store than men.