As others have said, in cash games a dollar won or lost is a dollar won or lost, and each hand is independant of the previous ones. In tournaments there are tactical considerations, because the goal is to outlast other players, until its down to the final two. So sometimes in tournaments its better to pass on a marginal spot and wait for someone else to bust.
In tournaments the blinds also go up, which tend to make the effective stack size shorter. In a typical online cash game you need to be good at 100BB poker. In tournaments you need to master different stack sizes, but most of the play happen with an effective stack size of 40BB or less depending on the speed of the tournament.