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

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 developing, managers should capitalize on personal loyalty's contribution to service loyalty and safeguard this loyalty by ensuring that all service personnel working at the firm are perceived as credible by the customer.