Humor and group atmosphere

Curşeu, Petru Lucian; Fodor, Oana C.

doi:10.1108/tpm-04-2015-0022

Cited by 16 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…So far, humor has been mostly conceptualized as an individual trait that employees hold (Martin, Puhlik-Doris, Larsen, Gray & Weir, 2003). However, in line with Curșeu and Fodor (2016) and Sosik (2012) we argue that, as humor is inherent to social interaction, it can also be depicted as a social construction, a group or an organization level property. As an emergent state, group humor emerges out of the individual behaviors (displays of humor) and interactions among the team members and different groups working in the organization will display different types of group humor.…”

Section: Humor In the Workplacesupporting

confidence: 61%

The Dark Side of Humor in the Workplace: Aggressive Humor, Exhaustion and Intention to Leave the Organization

Trif

Fodor

2019

PRU

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Humor is inherent to social interaction and research has mainly focused on the potential benefits of using humor at work. However, different types of humor exist and this study builds on the Job Demands-Resources Model (JD-R) to argue that aggressive humor in the workplace is a demand rather than a resource. Specifically, the study explores the association of aggressive humor and the intention to leave the organization manifested by the employees and the role of exhaustion as a potential explanatory mechanism. Moreover, the study explored the potential buffering role of the quality of leader-employee exchange (LMX) for the negative effects of aggressive humor. The study employed a cross-sectional design in order to test a moderated mediation model. Data were collected from 101 call-center operators and team leaders working in a multinational company. Our findings show indeed that aggressive humor in the workplace is predictive for exhaustion, which, in turn, predicts the employees’ intentions to leave the organization. Contrary to our expectation, the moderating role of LMX did not receive empirical support. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

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Section: Humor In the Workplacesupporting

confidence: 61%

The Dark Side of Humor in the Workplace: Aggressive Humor, Exhaustion and Intention to Leave the Organization

Trif

Fodor

2019

PRU

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“…The latent factor correlations between positive humor and negative humor ingroup, and between positive humor and negative humor outgroup were weak and non-significant. Previous studies have reported non-significant correlations (Curseu and Fodor, 2016) and low-to-moderate correlations (Martin et al, 2003;Blanchard et al, 2014;Cann et al, 2014) between positive humor and negative/aggressive humor. Thus, our findings in relation to correlation between positive humor and negative humor mirror previous research, and the lack of association indicates that positive and negative humor can be seen as two distinct facets of humor (Martin et al, 2003).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 79%

“…Investigating the nomological validity of the HCSS contributes to establishing repercussions of certain degrees of different humor climate within sport teams. Previous studies on humor climate lack investigation of nomological validity (Cann et al, 2014;Curseu and Fodor, 2016), and consequently it is difficult to compare our results of nomological validity with previous humor climate studies. Despite this, we argue that the CFA results support the nomological validity of our theoretical relations, and we encourage other researchers to examine these further.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 83%

Development and Initial Validation of the Humor Climate in Sport Scale

et al. 2021

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In sport teams, humor is an essential element that influences communication processes, and plays an important role in group dynamics. Despite this, no current instrument is presented in the literature to measure humor climate in sport teams. Therefore, the current study presents the development and initial validation of the Humor Climate in Sport Scale (HCSS). The aim was to assess content, structural and concurrent validity of the developed instrument, and to examine differential item functioning (DIF) as a function of sex. Three different phases were completed in this study. The first phase involved focus groups (n = 5) that explored humor as communication in a team sport context. In phase 2, information from the focus groups was used to create a pool of potential items for the questionnaire. Two discussion groups with sport science students contributed to the development of 80 potential items, that two different expert groups then assessed for item quality. The final version of the instrument after this phase contained 14 items, representing three different humor dimensions. In phase 3, two independent samples with a total number of 776 participants were recruited for the psychometric evaluation of the instrument. EFA, ICM-CFA, and ESEM analysis were performed, supporting a three-factor structure with positive humor, negative humor in-group, and negative humor out-group. In addition, partial DIF as a function of sex on the negative humor dimensions was found, indicating differences in how male and female interpret the negative humor items. The findings in the current study expand our understanding of humor in sport teams and may be a starting point for further research on humor climate in sport teams and its role in group function.

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“…Given the indirect nature and ambiguity inherent in humorous communication, there is no agreed upon definition of humor. For this study, we define group humor as intentional communication exchanges that group members perceive as funny and amusing (Curs , eu and Fodor, 2016;Martin and Ford, 2018). We can distinguish two types of humor based on their social function in group conversations: liberating humor that facilitates a shift in perspective and gaining new insights and controlling humor that aims at influencing the behaviors of others through commanding comments or criticism masked as jokes (Lang and Lee, 2010).…”

Section: Humor and Conflict In Groupsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Jokes and quarrels: a cross-cultural investigation of humor and conflict transformation in groups

Gheorghe

Curşeu

Fodor

2023

IJCMA

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Purpose This study aims to investigate the relationship between different styles of humorous communication (i.e. controlling and liberating) and conflict transformation in groups, in particular the transformation of task and process conflicts into relationship conflict. This study also examines the extent to which power distance moderates the association between controlling humor and relationship conflict. Design/methodology/approach The authors collected data using a survey from 536 participants from two different countries varying in power distance (Romania and The Netherlands) working in groups in organizations from various sectors. Findings Supporting the hypotheses presented in this study, multi-level data analyses showed that liberating humor has a positive association with task conflict, while controlling humor has a positive association with both process and relationship conflict. Moreover, task and process conflict mediate the relationship between liberating and controlling humor (predictors) and relationship conflict (outcome). The hypothesis regarding the moderating effect of power distance was not fully supported by the data. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to explore the multilevel interplay of humor and intragroup conflict in cross-cultural settings and shows how various types of humor can shape the emergence of conflict and its transformation.

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Humor and group atmosphere

Cited by 16 publications

References 36 publications

The Dark Side of Humor in the Workplace: Aggressive Humor, Exhaustion and Intention to Leave the Organization

The Dark Side of Humor in the Workplace: Aggressive Humor, Exhaustion and Intention to Leave the Organization

Development and Initial Validation of the Humor Climate in Sport Scale

Jokes and quarrels: a cross-cultural investigation of humor and conflict transformation in groups

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