Exploitative leadership and organizational cynicism: the mediating role of emotional exhaustion

Purpose The paper aims to clarify the relationship between exploitative leadership (EL) and organizational cynicism (OC). Besides, it aims also to examine the mediating role of emotional exhaustion (EE) underpinning this relation. Design/methodology/approach The data were collected by a questionnaire from 491 employees, who work in four telecom firms. Findings The paper provides empirical insights about how EL influenced OC; it suggested that EE fully mediated the positive relationship between EL and OC. Originality/value To the author’s knowledge, it is the first study to address the relationship between exploitative leadership and organizational cynicism. In addition, it is the first one to explore the mediating mechanism of emotional exhaustion underpinning this relation.