TY - JOUR
T1 - Perceptions of politics and organizational cynicism
T2 - An attributional and leader-member exchange perspective
AU - Davis, Walter D.
AU - Gardner, William L.
PY - 2004/8
Y1 - 2004/8
N2 - As the political perspectives of organizations gain acceptance, leadership is increasingly viewed as a political process. While some researchers have begun to shun the notion that politics should be viewed as necessarily bad and undesirable, it is still commonly seen as a negative attribute of the organizational environment. Moreover, organizational members who perceive themselves to be working in negative political environments may develop cynical attitudes toward the organization. The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into the role that attributions play in eliciting negative cognitive and affective reactions to the political environment. We argue that because the quality of the leader-member exchange (LMX) is often central to these reactions, LMX theory and research possess considerable promise for enhancing our understanding of these processes. We explore attributional processes in detail, with special attention to (a) how these attributional processes occur within a leader-member relationship and (b) how attributions ultimately impact perceptions of politics, as well as organizational cynicism.
AB - As the political perspectives of organizations gain acceptance, leadership is increasingly viewed as a political process. While some researchers have begun to shun the notion that politics should be viewed as necessarily bad and undesirable, it is still commonly seen as a negative attribute of the organizational environment. Moreover, organizational members who perceive themselves to be working in negative political environments may develop cynical attitudes toward the organization. The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into the role that attributions play in eliciting negative cognitive and affective reactions to the political environment. We argue that because the quality of the leader-member exchange (LMX) is often central to these reactions, LMX theory and research possess considerable promise for enhancing our understanding of these processes. We explore attributional processes in detail, with special attention to (a) how these attributional processes occur within a leader-member relationship and (b) how attributions ultimately impact perceptions of politics, as well as organizational cynicism.
KW - Leader-member exchange
KW - Organizational cynicism
KW - Politics
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=4344618975&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.leaqua.2004.05.002
DO - 10.1016/j.leaqua.2004.05.002
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:4344618975
SN - 1048-9843
VL - 15
SP - 439
EP - 465
JO - Leadership Quarterly
JF - Leadership Quarterly
IS - 4
ER -