Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Item

Perceived organizational support, organizational cynicism and employee well-being

Abstract
The present study examined how an employee’s perception of their employing organization can impact his or her thoughts, feelings and behaviors. This study examined cognitive, affective and behavioral organizational cynicism in relation to perceived organizational support. Psychological strain, self-reported physical health and turnover intentions were investigated in relation to reduced POS and increased organizational cynicism. An online questionnaire measuring perceived organizational support (POS), organizational cynicism, psychological strain, turnover intentions and self-reported physical health was administered to full-time American employees, who were not self-employed, via links posted to social media websites and also circulated through a manufacturing company’s human resources headquarters. Two groups of participants responded, yielding a total sample of 161 participants. Group 1 consisted of participants from all industry types recruited using social media. Group 2 consisted of employees from the human resources headquarters of the manufacturing company. Groups differed significantly on almost all variables. This difference was controlled for in all analyses. Correlations and multiple regression analyses were used to test the hypotheses. All of the hypothesized correlational relationships were supported. Results of this study supported the notion that the multi-dimensional attitude of organizational cynicism is strongly and inversely related to POS. Contrary to predictions, affective and cognitive organizational cynicism did not mediate the majority of the hypothesized relationships between variables. This may have been due to the multicollinearity of the predictor variables. Significant mediation analyses results included: full mediation between POS and social dysfunction by cognitive organizational cynicism; partial mediation between anxiety/depression and self-reported physical health by affective organizational cynicism; and, the partial mediation of affective organizational cynicism between POS and turnover intentions. Future research may benefit from measuring the variables at different points in time in order to investigate causality between variables and also to avoid any statistical confounds such as multicollinearity. The identification of the high correlations between variables may encourage employers to actively attempt to address levels of POS within their organization thus resulting in benefits for employees.
Type
Thesis
Type of thesis
Series
Citation
Peplinski, M. S. (2014). Perceived organizational support, organizational cynicism and employee well-being (Thesis, Master of Applied Psychology (MAppPsy)). University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10289/8998
Date
2014
Publisher
University of Waikato
Rights
All items in Research Commons are provided for private study and research purposes and are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated.