Is Organizational Cynicism Positively Related To Attitude Towards Unethical Workplace Behavior?

Cynicism is conventionally thought of as a fixed attitude or personality trait characterized by skepticism and a general lack of trust in others. The concept of organizational cynicism was introduced in the early 1990s, when scholars argued that cynicism can be a fluid state and thus can be learned and unlearned based on beliefs, behaviors and affects. The purpose of this study is twofold: 1) to determine whether a positive relationship exists between organizational cynicism and self-reported attitudes towards unethical workplace behavior; and 2) to determine whether exposure to positive or negative organizational information in the form of short articles and sentences would moderate the effects of the aforementioned variables. Results from the study have demonstrated no relationships between the two variables, even taking into account the moderators, with results in p values reaching neither the .05 nor .01 levels. Both hypotheses are thus not supported.