Moderated relations among empowerment, cynicism and commitment

This study explores the relations among the concepts of psychological empowerment, emotional intelligence, organizational cynicism and affective commitment. Existing research has not explored the combined effects produced via the mediating role that organizational cynicism plays along with the moderating role of emotional intelligence. The study addresses that gap by exploring the mediating role of organizational cynicism combined with expected moderation by emotional intelligence. The empirical results from a sample of 206 employees from service sector of Pakistan confirmed that organizational cynicism mediates the relation between psychological empowerment and affective commitment, and also mediates the relation between emotional intelligence and organizational commitment. Moreover, the results also revealed that emotional intelligence not only moderates the direct relation between psychological empowerment and organizational cynicism but also moderates the mediated indirect relation between psychological empowerment and affective commitment thus providing evidence of moderated mediation. Based on the results, the study also provides suggestions for management practitioners and recommends new direction for future research.