Abstract:

Loyalty to supervisor refers to the relative strength of subordinates’ identification and internalization with supervisor and their values. An employee with high loyalty to his/her leader would show more attachment behavior like sacrifice and dedication towards leader. The mainstream measurement model of loyalty to supervisor has three types: (1) three-dimensional structure model consists affective commitment, normative commitment and continuance commitment in the west. (2) five-dimensional scale proposed by Chen et al. which consists identification with supervisor, internalization of supervisor’s values, dedication to supervisor, attachment to supervisor, and extra effort for supervisor; (3) five-dimensional model includes identification with supervisor and internalization of the supervisor’s values, initiative accommodation, task assistance, obedience, and sacrifice for supervisor raised by Jiang et al.. The existing empirical research have identified that individual characteristics, leaders’ factors, cultural and organizational context all have influence on loyalty to supervisor. Besides, the consequences of loyalty to supervisor such as job performance, organizational citizenship behavior, turnover intention, job satisfaction, supervisor- subordinate conflicts have become a hot focus to scholars. The future orientation of such research may consist of the effect of personality factors on loyalty to supervisor, the negative effects of loyalty to supervisor, the dynamic evolution of loyalty to supervisor, and the "person-centered" approach of supervisory loyalty.

Key words: loyalty to supervisor, organizational commitment, comparison of eastern and western, antecedents, consequences