humor as a moderator of leadership style effects

7/24/2019 Humor as a Moderator of Leadership Style Effects

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A funny thing happened on the way tobottom line: Humor as a moderator

leadership style effects.

Avolio, B.J., Howell, J.M., & osi!, J.J.

" Academy of Management Journal #$$$, % '(, #$)

Shahd El Shami

Tamer Kamal Abdellatif


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+able of ontents

Article Summary

Literature Review

Research Question

Hypotheses

Research ethodolo!y

Research Results

"iscussion

#riti$ue

Q%A


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Article ummary

an is the only animal that lau!hs and weeps& for he is the only animal tstruc' with the difference between what thin!s are( and what they ou!ht

*illiam Ha+litt( *it and Humor

This study e,amined the lin's between three different leadership styles&transformational( contin!ent reward( and laisse+-faire( the use of humor( measures of performance) Results indicated that leadership style was m

by the use of humor in its relationship with individual and unit-level perfo

.mplications for further research on the use of humor by leaders were alsdiscussed)


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-iterature eview

The /se of Humor and .ts .mpact on 0rocesses and 0erformance1

Humor can be hypothesi+ed to have both direct and indirect effects on individu

performance) Some of the direct effects may occur because the use of humor

the affective and motivational states of followers)

The use of humor in or!ani+ations has been associated with improvin! mora

wor'ers 23runer(45567( creatin! a more positive or!ani+ational culture 2

Spur!eon( 45587( enhancin! !roup cohesiveness 2"uncan( 459:7( stimulatin!

and !roup creativity 2#si's+entmihalyi( 455;& urdoc' % 3anim( 455eisal( 45957)

The use of humor has been described as motivatin! diver!ent( unconventiona

and innovative thin'in! 2#si's+entmihalyi( 455;7)


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-iterature eview

Humor as a oderator of the Relationship between Leaders

Style and 0erformance1

ana!ers use humor to cope with stress 2?ovitch( "ale( % Huda'( 455

3adish( 455@7

artin and Lefcourt 2459


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-iterature eview

-eadership styles:

+ransformational leaders1 build confidence in followers( encoura!in! them to

the future and to $uestion the tried and true( and coachin! them to develop the

capabilities 2Bass % Avolio( 455=& Burns( 45697) By usin! humor( transformatio

leaders can create a more amiable atmosphere at wor'( which can enhance cr

interactions amon! employees and their performance 2#louse % Spur!eon( 45

ontingent reward leaders: focus on establishin! clear e,chan!es with their

2Bass( 45987) E,chan!es are often based on articulatin! Ce,plicit contractsC re!

what the leader e,pects from followers) #ontin!ent reward leaders usually con

on !ettin! tas's done and pay less attention to understandin! the human resoneeds of their or!ani+ations 2Bass( 45987)

-aisse/)faire leadership: with poor individual and unit performance) Laisse+-f

leaders( who avoid ta'in! a stand with their followers( are viewed as less effect

% Avolio( 455=7)


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esearch 0uestion

To what e,tent does the use of humor by leaders impositively on performance)

*hich leadership styles is the use of humor more 2oeffectiveD


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Hypotheses

Hypothesis 4) The use of humor will be positively related to individual an

level performance)

Hypothesis :a) The use of humor will enhance the positive effect oftransformational leadership on individual and unit performance)

Hypothesis :b) The use of humor will enhance the positive effect of contireward leadership on individual and unit performance)

Hypothesis :c) The use of humor will enhance the ne!ative effect of laissleadership on individual and unit performance)


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esearch Methodology

onte1t and ample:

The study was conducted in a lar!e #anadian financial institution) The compan

or!ani+ed into four strate!ic business units 2investments( !roup insurance( !en

insurance( and individual life insurance7 and three functional support areas 2hu

resources( mar'et development( and customer service7)

The sample consisted of 448 leaders representin! the top four levels of mana!

and their


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esearch Methodology

2rocedures1

.nitially( leaders and followers received a letter from the companyFs chief e,ecu

informin! them that the research proGect was university sponsored and that the

would receive only summary statistics of a!!re!ated data)

Surveys were then distributed to all followers of each mana!er who a!reed to

participate& the followers were as'ed to rate the fre$uency with which their man

used different leadership behaviors and humor)

#onfidentiality of responses was assured by number-codin! all surveys and hasurveys mailed directly bac' to the researcher) The overall response rate was 9

for followers I J


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esearch Methodology

urvey Measures:

-eadership behavior: The ultifactor Leadership Questionnaire 2LQ7 >o

was used to measure leadership style 2Bass % Avolio( 45567) LQ scales wredesi!ned to include only items measurin! leader behavior)

Transformational leadership variables include the followin!1

.deali+ed influence or charisma Cuses symbols and ima!es to !et hisNher ideas ac

.nspirational leadership Cprovides a vision of what lies aheadO

.ntellectual stimulation Cprovides reasons to chan!e my way of thin'in! about pro

.ndividuali+ed consideration Cspends time coachin! meC)

#ontin!ent reward leadership was measured by four items )

Three items assessed laisse+-faire leadership)

>ollowers rated how fre$uently their mana!er en!a!ed in each behavior on a

point scale ran!in! from @ 2not at all7 to = 2fre$uently( if not always7)


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esearch Methodology

urvey Measures 'ont3d(:

>ive items measured the leaderFs use of humor in terms of fre$uency o

occurrence)

Cuses humor to ta'e the ed!e off durin! stressful periodsC

Cuses a funny story to turn an ar!ument in his or her favorC

Cma'es us lau!h at ourselves when we are too seriousC

Cuses amusin! stories to defuse conflicts(O

Cuses wit to ma'e friends of the opposition)C


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Measurement 4nstruments

Hypotheses were tested usin! the partial least s$uares 20LS7 structural e$ua

modelin! techni$ue 2cf) *old( 45987)

PLS generates estimates of standardized regression coefficientsfor model p

which can then be used to measure the relationships between latent variable

The researcher utili/ed full)sample data to test Hypothesis #.

To test Hypotheses :a( :b( and :c( we split the sample into two subsamplcomposed of data partitioned accordin! to level of humor use1

oHi!h 2scale score P4)9; median score7

o Low 2scale score 4)9; median score7

.n parallel( more traditional moderated regression analysis by testin! a m

separately for each subsample usin! unpairedt)tests 2"u,bury % Hi!!

Sambamurthy % #hin(455=7)


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esearch esults

H#was supported by the results confirmin! that the use of humor wassi!nificantly and positivelyrelated to individual and unit performance)

Hawas supported partially that transformational leadership was si!nand positivelyrelated to the use of humor and to individual 2more positihumor7 and unit performance 2more positive in high humor7)

Hbwas supported that contingent reward leadership was si!nificantlpositively related to the use of humor( but it was negatively related to inand unit performance 'more negative in high humor than low subsamp

Hawas supported that -aisse/)faire leadership was si!nificantly andnegatively related to the use of humor and to individual and unit perform2more negative in low humor7)


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5iscussion Leadership styles and the use of humor( and performance)The use of humor had a positive( direct relationship with two measures of perf

Activeleadership2transformational or contin!ent reward leadership7( wpositivelyrelated to the use of humor( but 4nactive2laisse+-faire leadewas negatively related to the use of humor)

#ouplin! the use of humor with a style of leadership that is !enerally lhuman) relations oriented( in a conte,t where understandin! employeeand concerns is re$uired( may have led followers to view their mana!ers

insensitive to their needs 2Shamir( 45587)

The results su!!est that by using humor( laisse/)faire leaders may haable to reduce the negative effects typically associated with their lac' oleadership( includin! a ne!ative impact on performance)


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5iscussion 'ont.( The use of humor may have been seen as a distraction from the leadersF atten

their followersF individual concerns)

speculate as to why the moderating effects of humor used with transformatleadership differed for individual and unit performance) 0erhaps humor moreeffectively creates a positive atmosphere within a unit and thus stimulates hlevels of collective productivity)

The or!ani+ation in which this study was conducted is over 4@@ years old and iconsidered very conservative)

Results may have been affected by the de!ree to which different units had morconservative cultures)

.n this conte,t( the use of humor may have been seen as promoting greaterfle1ibility and innovation( 6ualitiesthat should enhance performance) Howwhen used by contingent reward leaders who e,pressed !reat concern withincreasin! productivity( reducin! costs( and achievin! contracted !oals( humorhave had a more negative relationship with performance )


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riti6ue4) 0urposiveness1 ?es

:) Ri!or1 ?es( hi!h sample with hi!h rate of participation)


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+han! you8

humor as a moderator of leadership style effects

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