Neves, PedroCastanheira, FilipaBuchert, Lara Katharina2024-05-102024-05-102023-01-202022-12-16http://hdl.handle.net/10362/167223Due to constantly evolving organizations, employees display more organizational cynicism and a diminishing work-life balance. This thesis reveals that established high performance human resource practices can hinder levels of organizational cynicism. The thesis further enunciates the new phenomenon of masculinity contest cultures in organizations, undermining an employee’s work-life balance, resulting in detrimental problematics. In this study, the mediating role of perceived organizational support (POS) was examined in overcoming the challenges of organizational cynicism and declining work-life balance amongst employees. The findings suggest that organizations must increase POS to reduce stressors amongst employees and result in job satisfaction and, hence, productivity.engPerceived organizational supportHigh performance human resource practicesOrganizational cynicismMasculinity contest cultureWork-life balancemaster thesis203364430