The Moderating Roles of Perceived Organizational Support and Job Embeddedness in the Relationship between Organizational Cynicism and Counterproductive Work Behaviour
Counterproductive work behaviours (CWBs) undermine organizational sustainability and often stem from negative employee attitudes such as organizational cynicism (OC). This concern is especially salient in the Nigerian banking sector, where recurring institutional crises, restructuring, and job insecurity create fertile conditions for cynicism and its behavioural fallout, yet the protective mechanisms capable of containing this fallout remain understudied in this context. Drawing on Organizational Support Theory and Conservation of Resources Theory, this study examines whether perceived organizational support (POS) and job embeddedness (JE) —an external relational resource and an internal structural resource, respectively —moderate the relationship between OC and CWBs among bank employees in South-east Nigeria. A cross-sectional design was used, with self-report measures of POS, JE, OC, and CWB. Bivariate associations were examined using Pearson correlations, and moderation was tested through regression-based analyses using Hayes' PROCESS macro (Model 2, v4.2), with bias-corrected bootstrapping applied to estimate conditional effects. Results showed that OC correlated positively with CWB, while POS and JE correlated negatively with CWB. POS and JE each significantly moderated the OC-CWB relationship, weakening the positive effect of OC on CWB at higher levels of both moderators. These findings indicate that employees who feel more supported and more embedded in their organizations are less likely to translate cynical attitudes into counterproductive actions. This results highlight the protective value of organizational support and embeddedness in curbing harmful workplace conduct, underscoring the importance of building supportive environments and strengthening employees' organizational ties as a means of mitigating the behavioural consequences of cynicism.
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