The Role of Cynicism in Team Work Performance

Different factors contribute to employee engagement. However, social relationships between colleagues are considered to be key factors linking to issues of employees engagement. The work engagement of cynical individuals who had a poorer social relationships with other people is unclear and for that reason needs to be investigated closer. The purpose of the present research is to examine the role of cynicism in employee engagement in work processes. In order to test this, Pearson correlation analyses will be made. This method will help to measure the existence of a linear relationship between cynicism and social relationships and between social relationships and work engagement. Following, to test mediation Causal-steps approach will be used. Final, a multiple regression analysis will be conducted. Pearson’s correlation coefficient showed that relationship between cynicism and social relationships is not significant and correlation between social relationships and work engagement didn’t reach statistical significance neither. However, the direct link between cynicism and work engagement was statistically significant. The regression coefficients point to the fact that the higher the score on cynicism the lower the score on work engagement. In other words, employees who are more prone to perceive their workplace as a hostile place full of people they cannot trust or rely to, are less likely to be engaged in work processes. With its results, it is a promising direction for further research on engagement of cynical individuals in work processes.