Personal need for structure as a boundary condition for humor in leadership

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Authors

Recent research has established a positive relationship between humor in leadership and organizational behavior variables. However, neither the mechanisms nor the boundary conditions of the positive effects of humor in leadership are completely understood. In this study, we contribute to these questions by investigating the relationship between humor in leadership and follower commitment and burnout in more detail. We propose that these relationships unfold via a relational process and specified this relational process in terms of leader–member exchange. Moreover, we assume that these relationships depend on followers' personal need for structure. We tested the hypothesized moderated-mediation model in a two-wave survey study with 142 employees. Our results support the proposed model. We found the predicted indirect effect of humor on commitment and disengagement to be stronger for followers low in need for structure. However, we did not find the proposed effects for emotional exhaustion. We discuss implications for leadership theory, humor theory, and for leadership training and practice.

Original languageEnglish
JournalJournal of Organizational Behavior
Volume38
Issue number1
Pages (from-to)87-107
Number of pages21
ISSN0894-3796
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 01.01.2017
Externally publishedYes

    Research areas

  • Business psychology - humor, leadership, moderated mediation, personal need for structure, relational mechanism

DOI

Recently viewed

Publications

  1. Careless product use in access-based services
  2. Separating Cognitive and Content Domains in Mathematical Competence
  3. Overview of a Proposed Ecological Risk Assessment Process for Honey bees (Apis mellifera) and Non‐Apis Bees
  4. Toward spatial fit in the governance of global commodity flows
  5. How young children integrate information sources to infer the meaning of words
  6. Method of Artificial Vision in Guide Cane for Visually Impaired People
  7. Precipitation Kinetics of AA6082: An Experimental and Numerical Investigation
  8. Calibration of a simple method for determining ammonia volatilization in the field - Comparative measurements in Henan Province, China
  9. Friction riveting of 3D printed polyamide 6 with AA 6056-T6
  10. New methods for the analysis of links between international firm activities and firm performance
  11. A transfer operator based numerical investigation of coherent structures in three-dimensional Southern ocean circulation
  12. Optimization and Validation of an LC Method for the Determination of Cefdinir in Dosage Form and Human Urine
  13. Zur Methodologie der ‘Fehleranalyse’ in der mathematikdidaktischen Forschung
  14. Case study on delivery time determination using a machine learning approach in small batch production companies
  15. A Robust Decoupling Estimator to Indentify Electrical Parameters for Three-Phase Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors
  16. Self-regulated learning and self assessment in online mathematics bridging courses
  17. Anticipated imitation of multiple agents
  18. Increasing personal initiative in small business managers or owners leads to entrepreneurial success: A theory-based controlled randomized field intervention for evidence-based management
  19. Effects of tree diversity on canopy space occupation vary with tree size and canopy space definition in a mature broad-leaved forest
  20. Environmental performance, carbon performance and earnings management
  21. Dimension theoretical properties of generalized Baker's transformations
  22. Cascade MIMO P-PID Controllers Applied in an Over-actuated Quadrotor Tilt-Rotor
  23. Trade Dynamics, Trade Costs and Market Size: First Evidence from the Exporter and Importer Dynamics Database for Germany
  24. Motion-decoupled internal force control in grasping with visco-elastic contacts
  25. Nitrogen uptake by grassland communities
  26. Deliberative mapping of ecosystem services within and around Doñana National Park (SW Spain) in relation to land use change
  27. The role of the situation model in mathematical modelling
  28. Investigation of the deformation behavior of Fe-3%Si sheet metal with large grains via crystal plasticity and finite-element modeling
  29. Effects of Soil Properties, Temperature and Disturbance on Diversity and Functional Composition of Plant Communities Along a Steep Elevational Gradient on Tenerife
  30. PyFin-sentiment
  31. Green deserts, but not always
  32. Evidence on copula-based double-hurdle models with flexible margins
  33. Deep Rolling for Tailoring Residual Stresses of AA2024 Sheet Metals
  34. User experience predicts the effectiveness of a gamified recovery app
  35. A PD Fuzzy Control of a Nonholonomic Car-Like Robot for Drive Assistant Systems
  36. Land-use change differentially affects endemic, forest andopen-land butterflies in Madagascar
  37. Modeling of Friction-Induced Vibrations during Tightening of Bolted Joints