Affiliative and aggressive humour in leadership and their relationship to leader–member exchange

Abstract

In this study, we investigate the relationship between affiliative and aggressive humour of the leader and the quality of relationship between leader and follower in terms of leadermember exchange (LMX), assuming identification with the leader to mediate this relationship. We conducted a 2-wave survey study with a time lag of 6 weeks (N = 152). We found affiliative humour of the leader rated at Time 1 to be positively related to LMX at Time 2, even after controlling for LMX at Time 1, whereas aggressive humour was negatively related to LMX at Time 2. Identification with the leader mediated the relationship between affiliative humour of the leader and LMX but did not mediate the relationship between aggressive humour and LMX. Our results contribute to the understanding of leader behaviours that contribute to a positive professional relationship between leader and follower as well as to the understanding of the relational processes that may explain the effects of humour in leadership. Practitioner pointsLeader humour may help establish high-quality relationships between leaders and followers. Leaders could use affiliative humour and should avoid aggressive humour to improve the quality of leaderfollower relationships. Affiliative humour may be developed by an established humour training programme focusing on the so-called humour habits. Aggressive humour could be prevented by establishing organizational non-aggression norms. Formal humour training for leaders should be used with care to prevent potential downsides such as emotional exhaustion.

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

“…Interestingly, based on our study's findings, this is also true for leader–follower relationships, even though such relationships are characterized by formal hierarchical differences between leader and follower. Thus, our findings are consistent with the proposition that humor deemphasizes such differences or at least the followers' perceptions of these differences (Cooper, ) and contributes to a positive professional relationship between leader and follower (Pundt & Herrmann, ). Our findings show that this relationship in turn contributes to higher levels of affective commitment and lower levels of burnout.…”

“…It is unlikely that LMX as a measure of the quality of the leader–follower relationship actually changes within the time period of one week. Previous studies have shown that such changes can be observed within six weeks (Liden, Wayne, & Stilwell, ; Pundt & Herrmann, ). However, as Pundt and Herrmann () have already demonstrated humor in leadership to be related to changes in LMX, our findings can be seen as additional support for the relational process rather than a “hard test” of causality.…”

“…Wisse and Rietzschel () have shown a positive relationship between social humor and LMX in a cross‐sectional multi‐source study. Pundt and Herrmann () found a positive relationship between social humor and an increasing level of LMX in a two‐wave survey study over a period of six weeks. However, recent research raises some doubts about the general validity of the proposed unconditional effect of humor in leadership on the leader–follower relationship.…”

The Impact of Leader Humor on Subordinate Job Satisfaction

“…Supporting the first part of this model, Pundt and Herrmann (2015) found that positive (i.e., affiliative) humor was positively associated with LMX quality, whereas negative (i.e., aggressive) humor was negatively associated with LMX quality. Cooper (2002) also examined the basic mediated relationship, and her results indicated that the relationships between leader humor frequency and both turnover intentions and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB) were mediated by some dimensions of LMX.…”

“…For example, Decker and Rotondo (2001) found that although positive humor was correlated with positive leader behaviors and outcomes, negative humor was uncorrelated with positive leader behavior and outcomes. Similarly, Pundt and Herrmann (2015) found that although positive (i.e., affiliative) humor was related to identification with the leader, negative humor was unrelated to identification with the leader.…”