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ABSTRACT. Organizational cynicism is the belief that an organization lacks integrity, which, when coupled with a powerful negative emotional reaction, leads to disparaging and critical behavior. In this article, the author attempts to theoretically clarify the process by which five forms of cynicism develop in the workplace and to empirically relate them to affective outcomes. Societal, employee, and organizational change cynicisms may be attributed to psychological contract violations; work cynicism may be related to burnout; and person-role conflict and personality cynicism may be related to innate hostility. Empirically, personality cynicism emerged as the strongest predictor of organizational cynicism, adversely affecting all of the criteria. Other forms of cynicism had more selective effects. Organizational change cynicism induced job dissatisfaction and alienation, and employee cynicism affected organizational commitment. Societal cynicism actually increased both job satisfaction and commitment. Both personality and work cynicisms were related to organizational citizenship indirectly, through alienation. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
ORGANIZATIONAL CYNICISM is defined as a negative attitude toward one's employing organization, composed of the belief that the organization lacks integrity; it includes negative affect toward the organization and a tendency to disparaging and critical behavior toward the organization consistent with this belief and affect (Dean, Brandes, & Dhwardkar, 1998). The core belief is that the principles of honesty, fairness, and sincerity are sacrificed to further the self-interests of the leadership, leading to actions based on hidden motives and deception. The affective component of cynicism suggests the arousal of powerful negative emotions including contempt, anger, distress, and shame. There may even be supercilious pleasure at the failure of the organization to achieve high moral standards, thereby validating the cynics' mistrust.
Cynical beliefs and negative emotions may be both overtly and covertly expressed through harsh criticism of the organization. Direct statements of the lack of integrity of the organization and the use of sarcastic humor are coupled with nonverbal behaviors including "knowing looks," "rolling eyes," and "smirks" (Dean et al., 1998, p. 5). The motives of even the most genuinely proactive organizational actions, including quality initiatives, community involvement, and employee empowerment, are frequently questioned, and pessimism is expressed about their success.
Cynical beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors may be either trait based or specifically targeted toward various entities, including society and its...