Laughters Nurturing Tears for Leaders and Organizations: The Implications of Leader Humor for Leader Workplace Deviance

Ye Li (), Yajun Zhang (), Lu Lu (), Junwei Zhang () and Xiuli Sun ()
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Ye Li: Nanjing University
Yajun Zhang: Guizhou University of Finance and Economics
Lu Lu: Guizhou University of Finance and Economics
Junwei Zhang: Guangdong University of Technology
Xiuli Sun: Capital University of Economics and Business

Journal of Business Ethics, 2023, vol. 188, issue 3, No 10, 603-621

Abstract: Abstract Extant research has identified various effects of leader humor on subordinates and work groups. In contrast, less research has explored the influence of leader humor on leaders themselves and leaders’ subsequent behaviors. To address these issues, we drew from ego depletion theory and investigated when and how leader humor impacted leader workplace deviance. We argued that leader humor along with high impression management motive would bring increased ego depletion to leaders themselves and ultimately result in more leader workplace deviance. We tested our theoretical model using a three-wave time-lagged field survey data collected from 103 leaders and 595 subordinates, as well as an experiment involving 487 leader participants, which provided overall support for our hypotheses. Our findings revealed the possible dark side of leader humor influencing both leaders themselves and organizations. Theoretical contributions and new avenues for future research are addressed.

Keywords: Leader humor; Impression management motive; Ego depletion; Leader workplace deviance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1007/s10551-022-05310-y

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