Abusive Supervision Emotional Exhaustion and Work Family Conflict as Predictors of Organizational Cynicism among Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Officers in Imo State

Abstract

This study examined Abusive Supervision, Emotional Exhaustion, and Work-Family Conflict as predictors of Organizational Cynicism among Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Officers in Imo State. A total of 273 officers from the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) in Imo State participated in the study. The participants were selected using the convenience sampling technique. The age range of the participants was between 27 and 58 years (M = 41.21, SD = 7.93), comprising 111 males and 162 females. Three hypotheses were formulated and tested. Data were collected using paper-based questionnaires, which included a demographic survey and four standardized self-report measures. They are: the Abusive Supervision Scale (ASS) by Tepper (2000), the Burnout Inventory (OLDI) by Demerouti et al. (2003), the Work-Family Conflict Scale (WFC) by Haslam et al. (2015), and the Organizational Cynicism Scale by Dean, Brandes, and Dharwadkar (1998). The study employed a cross-sectional survey design, and data were analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression. Findings revealed that Abusive supervision significantly predicted organizational cynicism (accounting for 27.7% of the variance), Emotional exhaustion was also a significant predictor (explaining 12.2% of the variance), and Work-family conflict contributed significantly as well, though modestly, accounting for 3.3% of the variance. These findings underscore the importance of adopting a holistic, evidence-based approach to organizational leadership that promotes ethical and non-abusive management practices, supports employee emotional well-being, and fosters a healthy work-life balance. Such measures are crucial to mitigating organizational cynicism among security personnel.