The relationship between mobbing and organizational cynicism: A meta analysis study

While mobbing seriously threatens the psychological health of employees, organizational cynicism can significantly damage employees' trust in the organization. Recently, many studies have been conducted in the literature on mobbing and organizational cynicism. However, no meta-analysis study has been conducted in which mobbing and organizational cynicism, which are among the undesirable situations in organizations, are addressed together. The aim of this study is to comprehensively reveal the extent of the relationship between mobbing and organizational cynicism by evaluating the results of studies conducted in Turkey between 2004 and 2024 on mobbing and organizational cynicism using the meta-analysis method called analysis of analyses. A systematic search was conducted by scanning the determined keywords in the databases selected for the research. A total of 28 studies, including 2 doctoral dissertations, 3 articles, and 23 master's theses that met the inclusion criteria and were published in Turkish in Turkey, were found suitable for meta-analysis. The total sample size of the study was 8396. Pearson Correlation Coefficient (r) was used in calculating the effect size. Using correlation coefficient values and sample number data, effect size and statistical values were obtained in the Comprehensive Meta Analysis (CMA) V4 Program. Q test and random effects model according to I² values were used to determine the heterogeneity and effect model between the studies. Fisher's z value was used in calculating the effect size. Funnel plot, Safe N, Orwin's value, Begg and Mazumdar Rank Correlation, Egger Test, Duval and Tweedie's Trim and Fill Method were used to determine publication bias and it was found that there was no publication bias. Due to the appearance of heterogeneous distribution, it was necessary to conduct analysis on subgroups to determine the source of heterogeneity. Subgroup analysis was performed using school type and publication type moderators in order to explain the heterogeneity between effect sizes. Meta regression analyzes were performed to find out whether the categorical moderator variables of school type and publication type affected the average effect size. When Fisher's z values and confidence intervals were examined; It was understood that the confidence intervals of all studies did not include zero and the effect sizes were statistically significant. It was determined that only 1 of the 28 studies included in the meta-analysis had a negative relationship and the remaining 27 studies showed a positive relationship. According to the random effect size, the Fisher's z value showing the level of the relationship between mobbing and organizational cynicism was determined as r=0.594. After the meta-analysis conducted to determine the relationship between organizational cynicism and mobbing, the average effect size was within the 95% confidence interval limits (lower limit=0.450 and upper limit=0.738). This finding showed the existence of a high level and positive relationship between mobbing and organizational cynicism. Since the Z value was 8.092 and p<0.05, it was determined that the overall effect was statistically significant.