J Bus Psychol
DOI 10.1007/s10869-010-9192-3
Expecting the Worst: Moderating Effects of Social Cynicism
on the Relationships Between Relationship Conflict and Negative
Affective Reactions
Fuli Li • Fan Zhou • Kwok Leung
Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010
Abstract
Purpose Social cynicism, defined as negative beliefs
about people and social institutions, shows negative impact
on people’s affective reactions. We extended this line of
work by testing the moderating effects of social cynicism
on the relationships between relationship conflict and its
affective consequences.
Design/Methodology/Approach The data were collected
using a computer-assisted random telephone survey
method (N = 572).
Findings As expected, social cynicism and relationship
conflict were related negatively to job satisfaction and life
satisfaction, but positively to intention to quit. More
importantly, the negative relationships between relation-
ship conflict and job satisfaction and life satisfaction, and
the positive relationship between relationship conflict and
intention to quit were not significant when social cynicism
was high.
Received and reviewed by former editor, George Neuman.
F. Li
School of Management, University of Science and Technology
of China, Hefei, China
F. Li
K. Leung
Department of Management, City University of Hong Kong,
Kowloon, Hong Kong
F. Li (&)
Center for Business Studies, School of Management,
Xi’an Jiaotong University, No. 28, Xianning West Road,
Xi’an 710049, Shanxi, China
e-mail: fuli@mail.xjtu.edu.cn
F. Zhou (&)
School of Management, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
e-mail: frankzhou@zju.edu.cn
Implications Our findings suggest that social cynicism is
like a two-edged sword. Social cynicism is not only cor-
related with a range of negative attitudes and reactions, but
also able to cushion people from the negative effects of
relationship conflict on affective reactions.
Originality/Value This study is among the first to exam-
ine the moderating role of social cynicism. Interestingly,
social cynicism played a mitigating role on the relation-
ships between relationship conflict and negative affective
reactions.
Keywords Social cynicism
Relationship conflict

Affective reactions
Job satisfaction
Life satisfaction

Intention to quit
Cooperation and conflict are major issues in the work
setting and have attracted a great deal of attention in pre-
vious research (e.g., Thomas 1992; Wall and Callister
1995). The extant literature has shown that although some
positive influence of conflict has been documented, it pri-
marily influences job attitudes and outcomes negatively
(De Dreu et al. 1999; Thomas et al. 2005; Tjosvold 1997).
For instance, Spector and Jex (1998) found that conflict
was associated with reduced well being and more
employee turnover, and Jehn (1995) reported that conflict
was detrimental to team work.
Following the classic research by Guetzkow and Gry
(1954), many studies have considered two types of conflict:
relationship conflict and task conflict (Jehn 1995; Pinkley
1990). According to Jehn (1995), relationship conflict
refers to interpersonal incompatibilities, animosity, and
bickering among group members, and can produce nega-
tive responses among employees, such as stress, anxiety,
fear, and resentment (Friedman et al. 2000; Jehn 1995). We
123

focus on relationship conflict in the present study, because
research has shown that it not only leads to psychological
strains, decreases satisfaction (Cox 2003; De Dreu and Van
Vianen 2001; Gardner 1992; Guerra et al. 2005; Jehn 1995;
Jehn et al. 1997), but also increases withdrawal behaviors
such as absenteeism and intention to quit (Medina et al.
2005; Peterson 1983; Ross 1989). This study investigated
the moderating effects of social cynicism, a negative belief
about people and social institutions, on the relationships
between relationship conflict and several affective
reactions.
Social Cynicism
In classical Greek philosophy, cynicism refers to an
alienation from communities and nations because of an
adherence to virtuous ideals (Navia 1996). In contemporary
usage, however, cynicism refers to the belief ‘‘that idealism
and involvement have few payoffs and that social distance
and emotional detachment are superior ways of life’’
(Kanter and Mirvis 1989, p. 19). Today’s cynics reject
ethical values, question or neglect honesty and truth with
sarcasm and skepticism (Navia 1996), and view others as
self-serving (Kanter and Mirvis 1989).
In psychology and management, cynicism has been
conceptualized as either beliefs about the social world or as
a personality disposition. In a cross-cultural study of social
axioms, or general beliefs, Leung et al. (2002) have iden-
tified a dimension of social cynicism, the content of which
involves a negative view of human nature, a biased view
against some groups of people, a mistrust of social insti-
tutions, and a disregard of ethical means for achieving
ends. Other cynicism research involves more specific
beliefs, and a good example is organizational cynicism,
which refers to the distrust of management in the work
context (e.g., Andersson 1996; Dean et al. 1998; O’Connell
et al. 1986; Reichers et al. 1997).
In contrast, cynicism can also be considered as a per-
sonality trait (Graham 1993). For example, there is a
cynicism scale in the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality
Inventory (MMPI), and individuals who score high on this
cynicism scale tend to distrust other people with a suspi-
cion of their motives and see them as selfish (Graham
1993; Pope et al. 1993). A major difference between cyn-
icism as a personality trait and social cynicism is that the
former is mostly defined by beliefs about oneself, whereas
the latter is defined purely by beliefs about other people
and social institutions.
Consistent with the characterization of social cynicism,
Leung and Bond (2004) correlated the average axiom
scores of a cultural group with a diverse range of variables
at the culture level. Social cynicism is related to lower life
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J Bus Psychol
satisfaction and job satisfaction across cultural groups, and
these relationships have been replicated at the individual
level. Across individuals, Lai et al .(2007) found that social
cynicism was related to life satisfaction negatively, and
Leung et al. (2010) reported that social cynicism was
related to job satisfaction negatively. Bond et al. (2004)
indicated that social cynicism was related to less frequent
use of collaborative and compromising styles in conflict
resolution, both of which require a certain degree of trust of
other disputants. Singelis et al. (2003) found that social
cynicism correlated negatively with interpersonal trust and
cognitive flexibility.
The Moderating Effects of Social Cynicism
As reviewed before, relationship conflict is often consid-
ered as disruptive to team member satisfaction and team
effectiveness (De Dreu and Van de Vliert 1997; Jehn
1995). Recent studies have considered a contingency per-
spective and addressed the question of whether the nega-
tive effects of relationship conflict can be mitigated or even
eliminated (De Dreu and Weingart 2003). For example,
research has shown that it is better for teams to use
avoiding responses to cope with relationship conflict rather
than using collaborative or contentious responses (De Dreu
and Van Vianen 2001; Murnighan and Conlon 1991).
Closer to our concern, it is also known that the negative
impact of relationship conflict may be contingent on indi-
vidual and contextual factors. For example, Duffy et al.
(2000) found that when task independence was high, low
self-esteem exacerbated the positive relationship between
relationship conflict and absenteeism. They posited that
people with low self-esteem are likely to make internal
attributions concerning a conflict situation and conse-
quently are more likely to withdraw. To continue this line
of work, we examined the moderating role of social cyni-
cism in the relationships between relationship conflict and
several affective reactions.
While the main effects of social cynicism are well-
documented, its moderating effects have yet to be exam-
ined. We borrow the framework of goal expectation theory
to explicate its moderating role (Pruitt and Kimmel 1977;
Rutte and Wilke 1992; Yamagishi 1986). Simply put, this
theory states that cooperative behaviors occur when people
have a cooperative motive as well as the expectation that
others will be cooperative. For people high in social cyn-
icism, because of their negative beliefs about other people
and social institution, it is unlikely that they would expect
others to be cooperative. Thus, goal expectation theory
suggests that people high in social cynicism would behave
competitively rather than cooperatively in interdependent
situations. Consistent with this argument, Bond et al.
J Bus Psychol

(2004) found that people high in social cynicism were Hypothesis 1b Relationship conflict and social cynicism
indeed less likely to use compromising and collaboration in show positive relationships with intention to quit.
conflict resolution. Obviously, these two conflict styles are
Hypothesis 1c Relationship conflict and social cynicism
unlikely to be used if the other disputants are assumed to be
show negative relationships with life satisfaction.
uncooperative. Fu et al. (2004) also found that social
cynicism was related to the use of assertive tactics, such as Hypothesis 2a Social cynicism moderates the negative
social pressure and coercion. relationship between relationship conflict and job satis-
Given that social cynicism is likely to relate to an faction such that the relationship is weaker when social
expectation of a competitive relationship with others, cynicism is higher.
relationship conflict should not be a surprise to people high
Hypothesis 2b Social cynicism moderates the negative
in social cynicism. They probably find this type of conflict
relationship between relationship conflict and life satis-
simply as part of everyday life, and the negative effects of
faction such that the relationship is weaker when social
relationship conflict for this group of people should
cynicism is higher.
therefore be attenuated because the conflict is expected.
This reasoning is consistent with the well-known finding Hypothesis 2c Social cynicism moderates the positive
that the negative effects of negative stimuli are reduced if relationship between relationship conflict and intention to
they are expected (e.g., Buckley et al. 2002; Oliver 1997). quit such that the relationship is weaker when social
In contrast, for people low in social cynicism, relationship cynicism is higher.
conflict is less likely to be regarded as part of everyday life
and should be less expected. Its occurrence should there-
Method
fore be more detrimental to this group of people, who may
find it more stressful and irritating. In short, we expect
Participants and Procedure
social cynicism to exert a moderating effect on the rela-
tionships between relationship conflict and attitudinal
Data were collected by a computer-assisted random tele-
reactions in a work context.
phone survey in Hong Kong, and 605 respondents were
The positive moderating effect of social cynicism, if
interviewed. The final sample included 572 respondents,
confirmed, has significant theoretical implications. As
with 316 male participants (55.2%). Thirty-three ques-
reviewed before, social cynicism is related to a range of
tionnaires were dropped because of irregular response
negative consequences, which casts some doubt on the
patterns, or because the respondents were retirees or part-
argument that general beliefs help guide individuals to
time employees. With regard to age, 29.5% were between
function effectively in their social world (Leung et al.
15 and 29, 36.2% were between 30 and 39, 34.3% were
2002). However, the hypothesized moderating effect of
between 40 and 59. With regard to education, 7.9% had a
social cynicism demonstrates an adaptive function, i.e.,
primary school education or below, 54.5% had a secondary
preparing people psychologically for a difficult interper-
school education, 17.8% had a community college educa-
sonal situation.
tion, and 19.8% had a university education or above. With
We use three variables to capture the negative effects of
regard to rank, 36.0% were rank-and-file employees, 54.2%
relationship conflict: job satisfaction, intention to quit, and
were at supervisory or middle management levels, and
life satisfaction. Job satisfaction and intention to quit are
9.8% were in senior management. Most respondents were
major variables for capturing the effects of negative stimuli
manufacturing (8.0%), I.T. (5.1%), wholesale and retail
in a work context. Because some research has shown that
(6.6%), transportation (4.5%), trading (6.3%), construction
relationship conflict is negatively related to individual
(8.9%), hotel (1.4%), and business and financial service
well-being, including psychosomatic complaints, stress and
(9.6%).
burnout (i.e., De Dreu et al. 2002), we included life satis-
faction as another type of affective variables to see if the
Measurements
effect of relationship conflict would extend beyond the
work context. On the basis of the above reasoning, we
Social cynicism was measured by four items from the
propose two sets of hypotheses. The first set is intended to
Social Axioms Survey by Leung et al. (2002), which is
replicate the well-documented negative effects of rela-
based on five-point scales (from 1 ‘‘strongly agree’’ to 5
tionship conflict and social cynicism, and the second set is
‘‘strongly disagree’’). Sample items included ‘‘Power peo-
concerned with the moderating effects of social cynicism.
ple tend to exploit others’’ and ‘‘Significant achievement
Hypothesis 1a Relationship conflict and social cynicism requires one to show no concern for the means needed
show negative relationships with job satisfaction. for that achievement.’’ The four-item measure of social

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cynicism had a coefficient alpha of .61. We note the reli- Table 1 Descriptive statistics and correlations (N = 572)
ability is on the low side, probably because the number of Variables Mean SD 1 2 3 4
items is small, but the average inter-item correlation is
reasonable (.27) 1. Relationship 2.71 .87 –
conflict
In the study, we used four items to measure relationship
conflict, which were similar to the items used by Friedman 2. Social cynicism 2.76 .80 .50** –
et al. (2000) to measure relationship conflict. These items 3. Job satisfaction 4.34 1.05 -.27** -.24** –
included ‘‘When there is a problem, people in this company 4. Intention to quit 2.31 1.25 .28** .32** -.38** –
tend to attack each other personally rather than focus on the 5. Life satisfaction 6.12 1.85 -.25** -.24** .46** -.33**
issues,’’ ‘‘There is a lot of conflict between employees in ** p \ .01
my company,’’ ‘‘There is a lot of rumor in my company,’’
and ‘‘There are many cliques in my company, and they
rival with each other’’. Five-point scales were used (1— Table 2 Results of hierarchical multiple regression
‘‘strongly agree’’ and 5—‘‘strongly disagree’’), and the Job Life Intention
coefficient alpha of the scale was .75. satisfaction satisfaction to quit
Seven items from the Eurobarometer survey (2005)
Step 1
were used to tap various aspects of job satisfaction (e.g.,
Age -.01 .06 -.12 
pay satisfaction, fringe benefits, promotion, relationship
Gender -.05 -.06 -.06
with colleagues, relationship with supervisors). Seven-
Education .03 -.01 -.01
point scales were used, with end points labeled as ‘‘com-
Occupation .17*** .05 .06
pletely dissatisfied’’ and ‘‘completely satisfied.’’ The
Tenure .08 .08 -.05
coefficient alpha of the scale was .80.
R2 change .05*** .03* .03*
Life satisfaction was measured by a single item from the
Eurobaometer survey (2005): ‘‘All things considered, how Step 2
satisfied are you with your life as a whole these days?’’ Relationship conflict -.20*** -.18*** .17***
Single-item scales are frequently used to measure overall Social cynicism -.11* -.15** .24***
life satisfaction (e.g., Andrews and Withey 1976). Again, a R2 change .07*** .08*** .12***
seven-point scale was used, with endpoints labeled as Step 3
‘‘completely dissatisfied’’ and ‘‘completely satisfied.’’ Relationship conflict 9 social .12** .11** -.07 
cynicism
Intention to quit was measured by a single item: ‘‘I
R2 change .01** .01** .01 
frequently think of quitting this job,’’ which was adapted 2
R .14 .12 .16
from Hackman and Oldham (1975). Because quitting
intention is an unambiguous and narrow construct, a single Note: Standardized beta weights (b) in the final equations when all the
item is deemed adequate (Sackett and Larson 1990). A variables are entered are presented
 
five-point scale was used, with end points labeled as p \ .10; * p \ .05; ** p \ .01; *** p \ .001
‘‘strongly disagree’’ and ‘‘strongly agree.’’
to intention to quit, b = .17, p \ .001. Social cynicism was
also negatively related to job satisfaction, b = -.11,
Results p \ .05, life satisfaction, b = -.15, p \ .01, and posi-
tively related to intention to quit, b = .24, p \ .001. When
Table 1 provides descriptive statistics and correlations we entered the interaction term for cynicism and relation-
among the variables of the study. ship conflict in step 3, it was significant for job satisfaction,
Hierarchical regression analyses were used to test the b = .12, p \ .01, life satisfaction, b = .11, p \ .01, and
moderating effects of social cynicism on job satisfaction, marginally significant for intention to quit, b = -.07,
life satisfaction, and intention to quit, respectively. We p = .06.
computed regression equations by entering several control To interpret the interactions, we plotted the regression
variables, including age, gender, education, occupation, lines according to the procedure proposed by Aiken and
and tenure, in the first step, relationship conflict and social West (1991). The negative relationship between relation-
cynicism in step 2, and the interaction term in step 3 (see ship conflict and job satisfaction was significant when
Table 2 for the results). social cynicism was low (b = -.37, p \ .001), but not
Consistent with H1a to H1c, relationship conflict was significant when social cynicism was high (b = -.11, ns).
negatively related to job satisfaction, b = -.20, p \ .001, In addition, the negative relationship between relationship
life satisfaction, b = -.18, p \ .001, and positively related conflict and life satisfaction was significant when social

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J Bus Psychol

4.2 between relationship conflict and job satisfaction, life sat-

isfaction, and intention to quit. That is, employees who are
high in social cynicism react less negatively to relationship
Job Satisfaction

3.8 conflict. It is quite well documented that social cynicism is

associated with negative attitudes and reactions, and this is
the first study that examined the moderating effects of
3.4
social cynicism and confirmed its buffering effects.
Low Social Cynicism
Cynicism Past research has revealed that social cynicism is related
High Social
Social Cynicism
Cynicism
3.0
to a range of negative attitudes and reactions. However, we
Low High found that social cynicism was able to cushion people from
Relationship Conflict the negative impact of relationship conflict on their affec-
tive reactions. Social cynicism is thus like a two-edged
6.0 sword, and seems to be able to prepare people psycho-
logically for interpersonally difficult situations and reduce
their negative reactions, such as stress, anxiety, fear, or
Life Satisfaction

5.5 resentment. We obviously do not advocate raising people’s

social cynicism to help them cope with relationship con-
flict, but the underlying process for its mitigating role,
5.0 namely, the expectation of interpersonal competition, may
Low Social Cynicism shed light on effective strategies that help people cope with
High Social Cynicism relationship conflict. Future research should examine this
4.5
Low High process in detail and explore how it can be harnessed to
Relationship Conflict reduce the damage of relationship conflict.

3.5
Implications for Theory Development and Future
Research
Intention To Quit

3.0
2.5
Low Social Cynicism
High Social Cynicism
2.0
Low High
Relationship Conflict
Fig. 1 Interaction of social cynicism and relationship conflict for job
satisfaction, life satisfaction, and intention to quit
cynicism was low (b = -.60, p \ .001), but not significant
when social cynicism was high (b = -.16, ns). Finally, the
interaction between relationship conflict and intention to
quit was significant when social cynicism was low
(b = .34, p \ .001), but was not significant when social
cynicism was high (b = .14, ns). All three hypotheses were
supported (see Fig. 1).
Discussion
As predicted, both relationship conflict and social cynicism
were related to job satisfaction and life satisfaction nega-
tively, and intention to quit positively. More importantly,
social cynicism was able to attenuate the relationships
We propose that the expectation of competitive behavior
from others is the main reason why social cynicism is able
to moderate the negative effects of relationship conflict. It
is interesting to explore why people high in social cynicism
develop such expectations. One possibility is that because
of these expectations, they tend to behave competitively,
which elicit competitive behaviors from others (Leung
et al. 2004). In other words, self-fulfilling prophecy may
increase the occurrence of relationship conflict for people
high in social cynicism, which dampens its negative
effects. This possibility should be explored in future
research.
It is possible that social cynicism is able to buffer a wide
range of negative stimuli that are related to mistrust,
exploitation, and unethical behaviors. For instance, people
react negatively if they are not trusted or cheated (Meeker
1983), but we expect that these negative reactions are
likely to be weaker for people who are high in social
cynicism, because they are less likely to be surprised by
these behaviors. Future research should consider other
relevant negative variables and see if social cynicism is
able to buffer their negative impact.
Finally, we do not know if the buffering effects of
social cynicism on negative stimuli are truly adaptive. In
other words, we are certain if people high in social
cynicism are more capable of coping with negative

123

situations and securing favorable objective outcomes. It is
possible that they may be less unhappy about relationship
conflict, but they may not be able to improve the situation
in objective terms. Because of the competitive stance of
people high in social cynicism, they may be more likely
to engage in lose–lose strategies to handle relationship
conflict. It is also possible, however, that they may be
able to contain the negative effects of relationship conflict
to avoid its impact on their job performance and valued
outcomes. Future research is needed to settle this
ambiguity.
There are some limitations in this research, which are
discussed in the context of informing future research.
First, self-report measures were used and there is the
threat of the common method variance problem. How-
ever, our key results are based on interaction effects, and
it is well documented that they are not susceptible to the
common method variable bias (Evans 1985). Nonetheless,
it is desirable to evaluate the moderating effects of social
cynicism with variables based on diverse sources. Second,
the results are correlational, and do not provide direct
evidence for the causal processes implied in our analysis.
Future research should explore longitudinal design and
experimental studies to ascertain the causal directions
postulated. Third, the reliability of the cynicism scale is
not high (.61), probably because its item number is small.
However, reliable results are obtained across three
dependent variables, suggesting that its low reliability
should not be a problem. Nonetheless, more reliable
versions of the cynicism scale should be used in future
research. Fourth, a number of control variables were
included, but many other control variables could be
added. The confounding effects of third variables should
be evaluated in future research. Finally, the results were
obtained in Hong Kong. However, our reasoning does not
involve cultural processes, and we expect that similar
results will emerge in other cultural contexts. Future
research should evaluate this claim in other cultural
contexts.
To conclude, we found that while relationship conflict
was negatively related to several affective relations, these
relationships were not significant for people high in social
cynicism. This pattern of findings has significant theoreti-
cal and applied implications because it supports the argu-
ment that social cynicism helps people cope with difficult
situations. The buffering effects of social cynicism should
be explored in other contexts because we do not know
much about how a negative worldview can actually have an
adaptive function. In addition, the exploration of the
mechanism underlying the buffering effects of social cyn-
icism is likely to shed light on the development of effective
strategies for people to cope with the well-known problems
associated with relationship conflict.
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J Bus Psychol
Acknowledgment This research was supported by a Grant from
National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC, No.
70802055) and by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central
Universities.
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