Humor, Leader-Member Exchange, and Work Engagement: A Mediation Analysis Among Nurses in Emergency Care Settings

This study investigates the relationship between leader-member exchange and work engagement among emergency care setting nurses, considering the mediating role of humor at work. Through a causal quantitative approach, 301 employees in Emergency care settings were chosen from five hospitals at random using a simple random procedure. Three validated scales were used in this study to measure the study variables and establish a structural equation model. The findings reveal that Leader-Member exchange positively affects nurses' work engagement and Humor at work. But the humor on work engagement is not significantly related to work engagement. Therefore, the effects of leader-member exchange and work engagement, while humor mediates them, were not significant. The study demonstrates that leader-member exchange has a significant, direct, positive impact on both nurses’ work engagement and workplace humor. While workplace humor does not mediate this relationship, the findings highlight that direct relational leadership is the primary driver of nursing engagement. For hospital administrators in emergency care settings, this suggests a need to prioritize supervisors’ relational behaviors. Cultivating high-quality leader-member exchange directly improves the work environment and boosts nurses’ engagement, ultimately leading to more effective healthcare management and better patient outcomes.