The Relationship between Organizational Democracy and Organizational Cynicism: A Study on Academic Staff

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the relationship between organizational democracy and organizational cynicism as determined through academic staff opinions. 472 academic staff working in Ankara participated in the study. The data collection tools were the "Organizational Democracy Scale" developed by Tutar, Tuzcuoglu, and Altinoz (2009), and the "Organizational Cynicism Scale" developed by Brandes, Dharwadkar, and Dean (1999). The data were analyzed by applying the t-test, Welch's t-test, Tamhane's T2 test, Kruskal-Wallis H test, nonparametric multiple comparison test, one-way ANOVA, Scheffe test of post-hoc tests, and the Pearson correlation. The construct validity of the scales was tested through confirmatory factor analysis, and the Cronbach's alpha values were calculated for the internal reliability. It was found that the academics perceived moderate levels of organizational democracy; lowest levels of organizational cynicism in the cognitive and affective sub-dimensions, and moderate levels in the behavioral sub-dimension. It was determined that the participants' views on organizational democracy did not differ by the gender variable, but differed by the variables of the marital status, current university and the academic position title. While there was a significant difference in the opinions of the participants regarding the behavioral cynicism sub-dimension by the gender variable, their opinions about all the sub-dimensions of organizational cynicism differed significantly by the university variable. In addition, a high, negative and statistically significant relationship was found between academics' perception of organizational democracy and organizational cynicism attitudes in the cognitive and affective sub-dimensions; and a moderate, negative and statistically significant relationship between their perception of organizational democracy and organizational cynicism attitudes in the behavioral sub-dimensions.