Loyalty or integrity - which is more important? And why?

It is a balancing act. with thousands of factors to be considered.

It is impossible to give a clear and definite answer here. Best we can do is to note the many times when the balance have become unbalanced and swings too much in one direction or the other. The soldiers taught to be brutal in order to better inflict "Shock and Awe" on a some community or group, The highly trained medical people covering for eachother to "preserve the image of the profession", ...

Integrity...

Loyalty can end up being loyalty to the corrupt and evil..

Integrity will  see you taking the right side in any issue..

I completely agree.

:)

Loyalty includes  integrity.   What you are loyal to matters, but if you claim loyalty, you need to have integrity and keep your word.   If you need to break faith, you need to have a reason that may damage your integrity.  In other words,  if you continue to be loyal but you are loyal to a corrupt cause, you need to dissolve the relationship.   The cause for loyalty needs to be a cause that you can stand behind with pride.    But without integrity, nothing much matters.  So integrity wins. 

Integrity, because it means doing the right thing regardless of the people/entities involved. Loyalty is siding with people/entities simply because of who/what they are, even when they are wrong or doing so is the wrong thing to do.

Examples of integrity include professionals who call out their colleagues for unethical actions/practices, whistleblowers, and military personnel who refuse direct orders that are unconstitutional.

While loyalty can indeed be a good thing, there are times it is not. Someone who remains loyal to a spouse who abuses them and/or their children, the loyalty often seen in gangs and organized crime, corrupt and ruthless leaders always have loyal backers, and either remaining silent or covering for others who have done wrong simply because they are a collegue, friend or family member are all examples of loyalty not being such a good thing.

I agree.

I arrived at the same conclusion by a different process.

:)

I'm with you 100% in your reasoning.

:)

I can see your mind swinging.

I hope that makes it an interesting question.

Difficult, but I would say integrity.

Loyalty may serve a small number.  Integrity serves everyone.

For me, it's not difficult: integrity comes first every time,

and when integrity is first it tends to earn loyalty.

But I was interested to hear what people here would say,

because over the years I've heard many people say

that for them loyalty is the most important virtue of all.

When I hear that I tend to shy away,

because I think it means they want to take drugs and lie about it,

or some other form of deceit or even abuse, violence or crime.

Companies that behave badly demand loyalty and secrecy of their employees,

while companies that operate fairly demand integrity.