Top management credibility and employee cynicism: A comprehensive model
Open accessAbstract
By combining quantitative and qualitative methods of study, we develop a comprehensive model of top management behaviors, perceived management credibility, and employee cynicism and outcomes. Specifically, we identify managerial behaviors that affect employees’ perceptions of two components of top management’s credibility — trustworthiness and competence — and examine how each of those components relates to employee cynicism. Top management competence and trustworthiness relate to different components of employee cynicism (cognitive, affective, and behavioral cynicism), and these dimensions of cynicism differentially relate to organizational commitment and self-assessed job performance. Content analysis of critical incidents revealed that different sets of managerial behaviors generate attributions of competence, incompetence, trustworthiness, and non-trustworthiness. This study and the resulting model open the door to more finely distilled research on management credibility and employee cynicism.
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Cynical dispositions, a negative attitude toward the status quo, marked by a fundamental mistrust of rulers' intentions and the conviction that fairness is sacrificed to further the interests of rulers, ultimately manifests itself in conformism to the neoliberal hegemony.
“Cynical dispositions, a negative attitude toward the status quo, marked by a fundamental mistrust of rulers' intentions and the conviction that fairness is sacrificed to further the interests of rulers (cf. Brown and Cregan, 2008; Kim et al., 2009) ultimately manifests itself in conformism to the neoliberal hegemony.”
From The illusion of the digital commons: 'False consciousness' in online alternative economies (2017) · cites this paper as Kim et al., 2009
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Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., Lee, J.-Y., & Podsakoff, N. P. (2003) · Journal of Applied Psychology · doi:10.1037/0021-9010.88.5.879 · Cited by 82,194 · see citing works
Attitude-behavior relations: A theoretical analysis and review of empirical research
Ajzen, I., & Fishbein, M. (1977) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.84.5.888 · Cited by 7,611 · cited 1× · see citing works
“It is known that employees who hold generally negative attitudes toward their managers and jobs tend to exhibit more negative behavioral work intentions (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1977).”
BackgroundConstructing validity: Basic issues in objective scale development.
Clark, L. A., & Watson, D. (1995) · Psychological Assessment · doi:10.1037/1040-3590.7.3.309 · Cited by 6,567 · see citing works
Cynicism about Organizational Change: Measurement, Antecedents, and Correlates
Wanous, J. P., Reichers, A. E., & Austin, J. T. (2000) · Group & Organization Management · doi:10.1177/1059601100252003 · Cited by 509 · see citing works
Reactions to increased workload: Effects on professional efficacy of nurses
Greenglass, E. R., Burke, R. J., & Moore, K. A. (2003) · Applied Psychology · doi:10.1111/1464-0597.00152 · Cited by 176 · cited 3× · see citing works
“including when they originate from the behavior of top management, are also likely to reduce work motivation and commitment to the organization (Greenglass et al., 2003; Johnson & O’Leary-Kelly, 2003).”
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The illusion of the digital commons: 'False consciousness' in online alternative economies
Ossewaarde, M., & Reijers, W. (2017) · Organization · doi:10.1177/1350508417713217 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
- Authors
- Kim, T.-Y., Bateman, T. S., Gilbreath, B., & Andersson, L. M.
- Affiliations
- City University of Hong Kong (HK)
- University of Virginia (US)
- Colorado State University Pueblo (US)
- Temple University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Kim, Tae-Yeol
- Bateman, Thomas S.
- Gilbreath, Brad
- Andersson, Lynne M.
- ORCID
- Kim, Tae-Yeol
- Venue
- Human Relations
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2009-08-28
- Volume
- 62
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 1435-1458
- ISSN
- 0018-7267 (ISSN-L)
- 1741-282X
- OpenAlex
- W2168485894
- Cited by
- 123
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 5
- FWCI
- 4.45
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- papers.ssrn.com
- Locations
- Human Relations (publishedVersion)
- SSRN Electronic Journal (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Job Satisfaction and Organizational Behavior
- Social Sciences › Human Factors and Ergonomics › Employee Performance and Management
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Leadership and Management in Organizations
- Keywords
- employee cynicism, managerial competencies, cognitive cynicism, affective cynicism, behavioral cynicism, organizational commitment, managerial behavior, critical incidents
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