An overview of into this research is presented. It contains the background, problem statement, research purpose and question, rationale of study, and definition of key terms.
Background of the Study
In the recent decades, humor has emerged as a useful mean in assisting management efficiency. Especially in today’s business world, who masters the human capital seizes the demands of the unpredictable market. Moreover, the current employees, especially the younger members care more about the environment and quality of work. They are eager to work in happy, relaxed and interesting jobs (Liu & Wang, 2016; Romero & Pescosolido, 2008). Therefore, the role of humor and its potential outcomes have been widely discussed in the organizational behavior realm. Sierra (2013) summarized those research into three streams. The first stream contains individual employees’ workplace humor and their personal and work-related outcomes. The second stream contains group-level workplace humor and group-level outcomes. The third stream contains leader workplace humor and subordinates’ individual- and group-level outcomes. In the present study, the researcher extends the outcomes of the third stream into employees’ perception of humorous interpersonal interaction in the workplace.
A pleasant organizational climate would upgrade the positive working environment and could be the organizational strategy to attract and retain employees (Cann, Watson, &
Bridgewater, 2014; Scott, 2015). Altmann (2000) argued the benefits of organizational climate for an organization. He stated that employee involvement may increase their commitment and satisfaction to perform better on the jobs. Secondly, the positive working environment influences the employees work outcomes and external work outcomes (e.g.
the perceptions of the quality of products or services, organization image, etc.).
Comfortable communication forum assists managers to obtain important information from
employees. Lastly, the designs of organizational climate survey assists managers to be more proactive in preventing the potential workplace problems, managing their employees, maintaining the quality of work environment, and improving the relevant policies through company comparison. From the research, employees are the object to generate a pleasant climate and leaders are the key facilitator. However, to date, the instruments merely design for the workplace setting and humorous interaction. In this context, Cann et al. (2014) developed a measurement exploring the humorous interaction by supervisor support and comparisons between in-group and out-group. Lastly, a new indicator was created to reveal the workplace climate by assessing the dynamic humor relationship between workers (Rawlings & Findlay 2016). This measurement supports the research design of current study to explore the pleasant climate which induced by employees.
Leaders have the direct connection with and influence over followers. Recently there is a growing tendency to view humor as one of the successful leadership, and humor usages are an additional requirement for a great leader in present and future (Priest &
Swain, 2002). Lots of empirical research has praised the leaders’ humor in individual and organization levels respectively (Liu & Wang, 2016). In individual level, leaders’ humor influences employee performance, job involvement, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, subjective well-being, etc. In organization level, leaders’ humor influences the overall cohesion, creativity, morale, etc. Moreover, it is found that the outcomes of so-called benign and injurious leader’s humor behavior contradict to the established
conventional wisdom of humor. Humor was rarely discussed as an underlying social phenomenon (Cooper, 2008). Some recent scholars argued that the reasons of unexpected outcomes are complicated because of several factors, such as the leaders’ usage habit, tone of expression, and the contents; the subordinates’ interpretation, identification with the leader; and the leader-follower relationship. Still, all previous research affirmed the notion that leader humor is contagious among people at work. It is possible for employees
to accustom to certain leader humor style at the workplace. And employees may therefore be affected to apply that certain humor style to interact with members. Because humor acts as a media in social group, particularly the workplace (Owen, 2009). Thus, based on the affirmed benign outcomes from various leader humor research, it is interesting to investigate to what extent the leaders’ humor behavior/styles induce the pleasant climate among employees’ mind.
Moreover, the current research proposes that the tendency for employees to follow the humor style of leader is caused by the nature of conformity. Social conformity is a kind of social influence and has been frequently studied in the field of marketing (Holmes & Marra, 2006). The desires of accuracy, affiliation, and a positive self-concept motivate one to conscientiously or unconscientiously conform others (Cialdini & Goldstein, 2004). Such as to follow the normative actions or informational provider’s advice (Deutsch & Gerard, 1955). Previous researches have argued that the conformity is stronger in a group with consensus. However, the phenomenon of social conformity has been neglected in leader humor studies while the core research attention concentrates on the leader-member exchange (LMX). So, it is an exploration to investigate another element of social influence to affect leaders’ humor on employees. Present study proposes that the force of social conformity may moderate the relationship between leaders’ humor and the quality of employees’ humorous interactive environment. This may help the leader to create a benign humor climate that everyone likes.
Problem Statement
Plenty of management scholars studied the relation aspect between the leaders’ humor expression and LMX due to the reason that employees are more relationship-oriented to accept their leaders’ humorous conduct (Decker & Rotondo, 2001). Therefore, leader-member exchange is the prevalent element discussing in those relevant research. The
individual employees’ and the teams. However, most of the scholars are limited to consider more of other potential factors that affect the whole humorous interaction at the workplace.
Cooper (2008) stated that those scholars had fallen short in clearly explaining why and how the mechanism work between the humor and relationship quality, notably in the workplace context. Elucidating from the perspective of the social phenomenon, human nature inclinations would guide one towards the humorous events. Owen (2009) maintained that humor is embedded in the communication. Because the initiator and receiver of the communication may have had different interpretation of a message (Wyer, 2004), audiences could judge a humorous event and behavior based on the recognition of information providers and the situation he/she is in (Holmes & Marra, 2006). Moreover, despite the consideration of the mutual relationship, people have a tendency to be influenced by others whom they connect in an interaction activity.
According to the theory of social influence, social conformity might be the factor swaying the meanings of humor message in interpersonal interaction. Social conformity is a popular research target in the marketing field investigating the customer’s purchase behavior via others effect. It usually is categorized in informational and normative sources (Holmes & Marra, 2006). The former is the referent and powerful expert, the latter is though the norm and majority pressure. It showed that human has a tendency to blindly go with or convey the personal belief or value to follow with others because of the nature of social conformity.
And a recent research adapted the social process to explain the impact between the relationship of the leaders’ intrapersonal humor styles and LMX (Pundt & Herrmann, 2015).
The finding showed that identification worked on leader’s affiliative humor but no mediating effect for leader’s aggressive humor. Additionally, an unexpected reciprocal relationship was found between the identification with the leader and LMX.
The present research proposes an aspect that under the establishment of manager-subordinate exchange, the phenomenon of social conformity may influence an employee to follow the leader’s humor towards the pleasant degree of interacting with others. Because the nature level of social conformity will increase employees pursuing satisfactions of being liked in the work unit. For instance, Holmes and Marra (2006) proposed that leader’s humor is a useful strategy to stimulate employees’ interest in the messages in a public discussion (i.e. an informative environment). This study provides another opportunity to elaborate in the humor and leadership field, and also contributes to the research in the realm of workplace humor to induce a pleasant climate.
Research Purpose
Firstly, the purpose of the study is to investigate the relationship between perceived leaders’ humor behavior and pleasant climate. According to previous research, the leaders’
humor behavior can be categorized into four general styles (Martin, Puhlik-Doris, Larsen, Gray, & Weir, 2003), and pleasant climate may be induced from the workplace humor (Rawlings & Findlay, 2016). Also, from the literature, it is known that perceiving the leaders’ humor behavior could create the unmatched outcomes for employees and teams.
That is, it differs in the pieces of research whether displaying leaders’ humor behavior could positively predict the outcomes of employees and teams. In addition, pleasant climate depicts more than the overall behavior in workplace humor. It implies the employees’
psychological climate of workplace humor. Therefore, in this study, the researcher attempts to obtain a deeper understanding of the four distinct leader humor styles and how they affect employees’ perception of the humorous interaction in workplace.
Secondly, the study probes the moderation effect of social conformity on the relationship between perceived leaders’ humor behavior and pleasant climate. This would help to broaden the knowledge of social mechanism on humor and give a different aspect
workplace humor) and the effects of leaders’ humor behavior. More importantly, it tries to add value by explaining the humor effect in the relevant organizational behavior and management area.
In sum, the study adopts the viewpoints from communication, interpersonal interaction, and social psychology towards humor at work. The results of the study may enable organizations and leaders to realize more about the relationship between leaders’
humor behavior and a pleasant climate and the effect of employee’s social conformity.
Research Questions
In the study, the factors to be examined include leaders’ humor behavior, level of pleasant climate, and social conformity. Four styles (affiliative, aggressive, self-enhancing, and self-defeating leader humor styles) are to be studied under leaders’ humor behavior.
The researcher proposes that those humor styles represent classical leader’s humorous behavior, and pleasant climate which is induced from workplace humor, is the desired outcome. Briefly, the following statements are the research questions that the researcher seeks to answer.
1. From the employees’ perspective, do the leaders’ humor behavior really dominate pleasant climate?
2. Does the social conformity have a moderating effect on the relationship between perceiving the leader’s humor style and pleasant climate?
Limitations and Delimitations
The study is delimited to Taiwan’s business workplaces. Meanwhile, the sample population is limited to the employees who have more than six weeks of tenure with their leader. It is expected to collect data from a sample of all the employees in Taiwan and ideally all the employees in the same workplaces. The data should reflect how employees perceive the leaders’ humor behavior and the pleasant climate which is induced by the
workplace humor. Thus, the findings can only support the study to provide employees’
perceptions toward humor at work in Taiwan’s workplace.
A limitation of the study is the self-report method of data collection. Although conformity scale assists to show one’s natural level of social conformity. Scholars have claimed that the self-report indicators have some tendency to inflate one real action (Paulhus & Reid, 1991). Also, this measurement cannot distinguish the sources (i.e.
informative or normative influence) for an employee to perform conformity behavior.
Definition of Key Terms Workplace Humor
This study derived the definition from Sierra (2013) and Thorson and Powell (1993).
Workplace humor refers to the phenomenon embodied in the tendency for people to be included in a moment when the individual experience the humor created by colleagues, also the humorous interaction that the individual intends with others.
Briefly, it is a set of humor reference in the workplace which serves as the basic, exclusive and consensus mode for people who work together to a further interaction opportunity (Cooper, 2008; Owen, 2009).
Leaders’ Humor Behavior
This study applies the definition from Cooper (2002). Leaders’ humor behavior refers to a frequency that leaders actually share the humor with employees in the workplace. Its purpose is to identified the leaders’ general humor behaviors such as interpersonal and intrapersonal leader humor styles in the specific workplace (Robert & Wilbanks, 2012).
As for the operational definition, the study adopts the definition from Martin et al.
(2003). They developed a scale which divides the individual humor styles into benign/injurious and interpersonal/ intrapsychic functions. Its purpose is to represent the various ways in which one person usually use humor.
Pleasant Climate
This study follows the direction of Patterson et al. (2005). An exploration of individual level of organizational climate is an analysis of psychological climate. Thus, the current research depicts pleasant climate as an employee pleasant degree of humorous interaction atmosphere at the workplace.
As the operational definition, the study modifies the term of pleasant climate (at work) from Rawlings and Findlay (2016). This scale initially clarifies the humorous interactions between one and others employees at the workplace. In this study, the researcher adjusts the scale into investigating an employee’s perception of the humor climate at work.
Social Conformity
This study selects the definition from Asch (1951). Social conformity refers to the goal-direct and influence-related behavior. It yields a desire for an individual automatic following or converting the belief and going with the initiators.
As for the operational definition, the study adopts the meaning from Mehrabian (2005).
Its purpose is to identify a personal level of social conformity to the leader’s influence under different leader humor styles. The scale reveals the potential tendency to be the followers.