Abstract

Organizational cynicism, characterized by negative attitudes and distrust toward the organization, represents a growing challenge for human talent management. This study examines the impact of organizational cynicism on job satisfaction and performance in small and medium-sized enterprises within the service sector in Colombia, a key sector for the country’s economic development. Through a mixed methodological approach that combines structural equation modeling and fuzzy comparative qualitative analysis, both causal relationships and complex configurations of the factors involved are explored. The results reveal that organizational cynicism deteriorates employee well-being and productivity, while job satisfaction acts as a key mechanism to counteract these negative effects. Furthermore, specific patterns of cynical attitudes have been identified, allowing for a deeper understanding of their impact on job performance. This work contributes to the understanding of an underexplored phenomenon in the context of small and medium-sized enterprises in Latin America, offering practical recommendations for designing organizational strategies that promote a more just, motivating, and resilient work environment. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2025.