Are two cynics better than one? Toward understanding effects of leader–follower (in‐)congruence in social cynicism

• Author: Matthias Spörrle,Günter W. Maier,Sebastian C. Schuh,Stefan L. Dörr,Olivia A.U. Byza
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/job.2200
• Date: 01 October 2017
• Published date: 01 October 2017

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Are two cynics better than one? Toward understanding effects

of leader–follower (in‐)congruence in social cynicism

Olivia A.U. Byza

1

|Sebastian C. Schuh

2

|Stefan L. Dörr

3

|Matthias Spörrle

4

|

Günter W. Maier

1

1

Department of Psychology, Bielefeld

University, Bielefeld, Germany

2

Department of Organizational Behavior and

Human Resource Management, China Europe

International Business School, Shanghai, China

3

A47 Consulting, Munich, Germany

4

Private University Castle Seeburg, Seekirchen

am Wallersee, Austria

Correspondence

Olivia A. U. Byza, Department of Psychology,

Bielefeld University, Postfach 10 01 31,

D‐33501 Bielefeld, Germany.

Email: olivia@byza.de

Summary

Prior research suggests that leaders' social cynicism can undermine important follower outcomes

such as followers' motivation and performance. However, these studies have exclusively focused

on leaders' social cynicism and neglected that followers' views on the social world might also

influence the leadership process. On the basis of theories of social beliefs and person–supervisor

fit, we offer an integrative perspective and predict that it is the congruence between leaders' and

followers' social cynicism that shapes leadership dynamics. Data from 116 leader–follower dyads

from a broad range of organizations and industries support our model: Polynomial regression and

response surface analyses show significant congruence effects of leaders' and followers' social

cynicism on followers' extra‐role behaviors and followers' proactive work behaviors. These

positive effects of congruence on follower outcomes are transmitted by leader–member

exchange quality. Finally, congruence effects are stronger when leaders' and followers' social

cynicism is low rather than high. Overall, our study suggests that it is the correspondence

between leaders' and followers' social cynicism that influences followers' leader–member

exchange, extra‐role, and proactive behavior. We discuss the theoretical and practical

implications of these findings for designing functional leader–follower dyads in organizations.

KEYWORDS

person–environment fit, person–supervisor fit, polynomial regression, social cynicism

1|INTRODUCTION

People have different beliefs about their social environment. For

example, some see the social world as an iniquitous place full of

competition, exploitation, and injustice whereas others see the world

as a benevolent place with caring people, trustworthy institutions,

and mutual support (Leung, Ip, & Leung, 2010). Such social beliefs affect

not only how people think and feel but also how they act and commu-

nicate with others, for instance in their work environment (Deng, Guan,

Bond, Zhang, & Hu, 2011; Leung et al., 2002). Indeed, the notion of

people's social beliefs has attracted considerable attention in the

organizational literature, especially in the field of leadership. Leadership

researchers have argued that the beliefs that leaders hold about human

nature and the competencies and intentions of others affect how they

interact with and relate to their followers (Argyris, 1957; McGregor,

1960). More specifically, findings indicate that leaders with negative

and cynical views tend to mistrust the skills of others and are posited

to undermine followers' motivation and performance (Kierein & Gold,

2000; Rubin, Dierdorff, Bommer, & Baldwin, 2009). In contrast, leaders

with positive beliefs tend to hold more sanguine expectations of others

and are assumed to be more adept at fosteringfollowers' aspiration and

efforts (Eden, 2003; Sager, 2008).

Prior studies have provided empirical evidence for this view. They

show that leaders' negative beliefs relate to important follower

outcomes and go along with lower follower motivation (Eden, 1992;

Seibert, Silver, & Randolph, 2004; Vroom, 1995), reduced levels of

follower performance (Natanovich & Eden, 2008), and lower leader–

member exchange quality (LMX quality; Dulebohn, Bommer, Liden,

Brouer, & Ferris, 2012). A concept that captures such social beliefs is

social cynicism or the extent to which a leader has a general positive

(low social cynicism) or negative view (high social cynicism) of the social

world (Leung et al., 2002). Social cynicism is common in today's world,

and many people are skeptical about others' intentions (Peng & Zhou,

2009). It is one of the most central beliefs that guide people's reactions

toward others (Leung et al., 2002) and directly affects employees' work

outcomes (Bond et al., 2004; Leung et al., 2010).

Received: 23 November 2015 Revised: 10 January 2017 Accepted: 8 April 2017

DOI: 10.1002/job.2200

1246 Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. J Organ Behav. 2017;38:1246–1259.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/job