The Influence of Leader Humor on Relationships between Leader Behavior and Follower Outcomes

The use of humor by leaders is widely believed to have a beneficial impact on workplace outcomes. The present study, however, goes beyond a simple search for main-effect associations to test for the potential interactive role of leader humor in influencing the relationships between leader behavior and follower outcomes. For 179 leader-follower pairs sampled from public high schools, survey data were collected from teachers who described their principal's use of humor and degree to which the principal behaved with integrity, as well as used contingent personal reward. Moderated regression analysis revealed a significant interaction for leader use of humor and other dimensions of leader behavior in determining follower performance. In general, these results underscore a perspective wherein the impact of a leader's use of humor also depends on how a follower assesses other aspects of a leader's behavior.