Abstract
Neither employer expectations of loyalty, nor good treatment of employees by employers, nor employee appreciation of employers, nor the duty of nonmaleficence, nor the intention to be loyal, nor the duty not to act disloyally provide a basis for a moral or ethical duty of employee loyalty. However, in addition to the law, a pledge to be loyal can obligate one to be loyal. But if the specific content of such a pledge is unstated, the conduct required by the pledge may be indefinite. Moreover, the content and implications of loyalty are fluid, varying from context to context. Consequently, there is only a limited basis for the thesis that employees owe loyalty to their employers.
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Raymond S. Pfeiffer is Professor of Philosophy at Delta College. He holds a Ph.D. from Washington University (Philosophy), is at heart an islander, and works largely in the area of applied philosophy, with recent articles published on collective moral responsibility, corporate personhood, oppression, and interpersonal manipulation.
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Pfeiffer, R.S. Owing loyalty to one's employer. J Bus Ethics 11, 535–543 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00881446
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00881446