Employee Humor Can Shield Them from Abusive Supervision

Mingpeng Huang (), Dong Ju (), Kai Chi Yam (), Shengming Liu (), Xin Qin () and Guangdi Tian ()
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Mingpeng Huang: University of International Business and Economics
Dong Ju: Beijing Normal University
Kai Chi Yam: National University of Singapore
Shengming Liu: Fudan University
Xin Qin: Sun Yat-Sen University
Guangdi Tian: University of International Business and Economics

Journal of Business Ethics, 2023, vol. 186, issue 2, No 9, 407-424

Abstract: Abstract Drawing upon conservation of resources theory, we develop and test a theoretical model that specifies how and when employee humor toward leaders affects leader abusive supervision. We propose that employee humor is negatively associated with leader abusive supervision via leader relational energy. Furthermore, the negative indirect relationship between employee humor and leader abusive supervision via leader relational energy is stronger for female leaders than for male leaders. An experiment and a multi-wave, multi-source field study provide substantial support for our hypotheses. Our findings contribute to the abusive supervision literature by identifying employee humor as a safe and effective bottom-up approach to prevent leader abusive supervision.

Keywords: Employee humor; Abusive supervision; Relational energy; Gender; Conservation of resources theory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1007/s10551-022-05208-9

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