The effect of organizational cronyism on job embeddedness among Riyadh Airports Company employees: Workplace procrastination as a mediating variable

This research explores the effect of organizational cronyism in achieving workplace procrastination and how both organizational cronyism and workplace procrastination affect job embeddedness. Using the descriptive analytical approach, 406 valid responses were obtained using paper-survey after employing a random sampling approach, with a response rate estimated at 58%. The time-lag approach was also used in collecting data from participants in three different waves after five employees of the HR department in this company were well trained in helping the researcher collect data from targeted employees in this company. Data were analyzed using SPSS v.28 to extract descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, and kurtosis coefficient). Furthermore, variance-based structural modeling was examined using AMOS v.26 to analyze simple regression and potential mediation. Findings revealed a statistically significant negative effect of organizational cronyism on job embeddedness, while organizational cronyism had a statistically significant positive effect on employees' workplace procrastination. In contrast, job embeddedness was statistically significantly negatively affected by levels of workplace procrastination. Moreover, findings confirmed that workplace procrastination partially and significantly mediated the negative effect of organizational cronyism on job embeddedness. In conclusion, findings provide theoretical and applied proposals for human resources practitioners and academics. For example, the necessity of developing an effective system that eliminates cronyism by opening channels of direct communication between subordinates and senior management and developing a transparent system when choosing managers.