IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v151y2022icp118-125.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Beyond formal exchange: An informal perspective on the role of leader humor on employee OCB

Author

Listed:
  • Yang, Fu
  • Zhang, Ying

Abstract

Although leader humor research has investigated its benefits in a formal relationship, how leader humor, as an informal tactic, influences employee work outcomes has been neglected. Drawing on a relational perspective, we cast leader-member guanxi as a novel mechanism to explain the relationship between leader humor and employee organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). We also theorize team structure determines the extent to which leader-member guanxi is built by leader humor. Using data from 308 employees and their leaders in 76 teams at three time points, results of multilevel path analysis indicated that after controlling for leader-member exchange, the positive effect of leader humor on leader-member guanxi was enhanced when the team operated in an organic structure as opposed to a mechanistic structure, which in turn, facilitated employee OCB. These findings provide a novel insight into understanding the informal role of leader humor and offering important practices for relationship management.

Suggested Citation

  • Yang, Fu & Zhang, Ying, 2022. "Beyond formal exchange: An informal perspective on the role of leader humor on employee OCB," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 118-125.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:151:y:2022:i:c:p:118-125
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2022.06.054
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296322005963
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusres.2022.06.054?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jar-Der Luo & Meng-Yu Cheng & Tian Zhang, 2016. "Guanxi circle and organizational citizenship behavior: Context of a Chinese workplace," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 33(3), pages 649-671, September.
    2. Samuel Aryee & Li-Yun Sun & Zhen Xiong George Chen & Yaw A. Debrah, 2008. "Abusive Supervision and Contextual Performance: The Mediating Role of Emotional Exhaustion and the Moderating Role of Work Unit Structure," Management and Organization Review, The International Association for Chinese Management Research, vol. 4(3), pages 393-411, November.
    3. John Antonakis & Samuel Bendahan & Philippe Jacquart & Rafael Lalive, 2010. "On making causal claims : A review and recommendations," Post-Print hal-02313119, HAL.
    4. Weipeng Lin & Jingjing Ma & Qi Zhang & Jenny Chen Li & Feng Jiang, 2018. "How is Benevolent Leadership Linked to Employee Creativity? The Mediating Role of Leader–Member Exchange and the Moderating Role of Power Distance Orientation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(4), pages 1099-1115, November.
    5. Hui, Chun & Law, Kenneth S. & Chen, Zhen Xiong, 1999. "A Structural Equation Model of the Effects of Negative Affectivity, Leader-Member Exchange, and Perceived Job Mobility on In-role and Extra-role Performance: A Chinese Case," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 3-21, January.
    6. Hilary Bradbury & Benyamin M. Bergmann Lichtenstein, 2000. "Relationality in Organizational Research: Exploring The Space Between," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 11(5), pages 551-564, October.
    7. Aryee, Samuel & Sun, Li-Yun & Chen, Zhen Xiong George & Debrah, Yaw A., 2008. "Abusive Supervision and Contextual Performance: The Mediating Role of Emotional Exhaustion and the Moderating Role of Work Unit Structure," Management and Organization Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 4(3), pages 393-411, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yoshida, Diah Tuhfat & Sendjaya, Sen & Hirst, Giles & Cooper, Brian, 2014. "Does servant leadership foster creativity and innovation? A multi-level mediation study of identification and prototypicality," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(7), pages 1395-1404.
    2. Cynthia Atamba & John Kipngetich Mosonik & David Stuckler & Lincoln Jisuvei Sungu & Cornelia Melinda Adi Santoso & Halima Habuba Mohamed, 2023. "Impact of Workplace Mistreatment on Employees’ Health and Well-Being in Chinese Firms: A Systematic Review," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, December.
    3. Wei-Li Wu & Yi-Chih Lee, 2020. "Do Work Engagement and Transformational Leadership Facilitate Knowledge Sharing? A Perspective of Conservation of Resources Theory," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-17, April.
    4. Iftikhar Hussain & Shahab Ali & Farrukh Shahzad & Muhammad Irfan & Yong Wan & Zeeshan Fareed & Li Sun, 2022. "Abusive Supervision Impact on Employees’ Creativity: A Mediated-Moderated Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-13, July.
    5. Budhi Haryanto & Edi Cahyono, 2019. "Relationship Between Abusive Supervision and Performance: The Role of Gender," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(3), pages 305-311.
    6. De Clercq, Dirk & Haq, Inam Ul & Azeem, Muhammad Umer & Raja, Usman, 2018. "Family incivility, emotional exhaustion at work, and being a good soldier: The buffering roles of waypower and willpower," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 27-36.
    7. Maie Stein & Sylvie Vincent-Höper & Marlies Schümann & Sabine Gregersen, 2020. "Beyond Mistreatment at the Relationship Level: Abusive Supervision and Illegitimate Tasks," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(8), pages 1-12, April.
    8. Shahab Ali & Pu Yongjian & Farrukh Shahzad & Iftikhar Hussain & Dawei Zhang & Zeeshan Fareed & Filza Hameed & Chunlei Wang, 2022. "Abusive Supervision and Turnover Intentions: A Mediation-Moderation Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-14, August.
    9. Yucheng Zhang & Timothy C. Bednall, 2016. "Antecedents of Abusive Supervision: a Meta-analytic Review," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 139(3), pages 455-471, December.
    10. Qin Xu & Guangxi Zhang & Andrew Chan, 2019. "Abusive Supervision and Subordinate Proactive Behavior: Joint Moderating Roles of Organizational Identification and Positive Affectivity," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 157(3), pages 829-843, July.
    11. Allan B. I. Bernardo & Mary Angeline A. Daganzo & Anna Carmella G. Ocampo, 2018. "Abusive Supervision and Well-Being of Filipino Migrant Workers in Macau: Consequences for Self-Esteem and Heritage Culture Detachment," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 139(1), pages 277-292, August.
    12. Guanxing Xiong & Huadong Huang & Yingyi Ma & Cuiqi Liang & Haixia Wang, 2021. "Abusive Supervision and Unethical Pro-Organizational Behavior: The Mediating Role of Status Challenge and the Moderating Role of Leader–Member Exchange," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(3), pages 21582440211, August.
    13. Beini Liu & Qiang Lu, 2020. "Creating a Sustainable Workplace Environment: Influence of Workplace Safety Climate on Chinese Healthcare Employees’ Presenteeism from the Perspective of Affect and Cognition," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-17, March.
    14. Cihangir Gümüştaş & Nilgün Karataş Gümüştaş, 2023. "Abusive Supervision and Organizational Citizenship Behavior: Moderated Mediation Model of Burnout and Organizational Identity," Central European Business Review, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2023(4), pages 135-159.
    15. Meng Xi & Shuming Zhao & Qin Xu, 2017. "The influence of CEO relationship-focused behaviors on firm performance: A chain-mediating role of employee relations climate and employees’ attitudes," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 34(1), pages 173-192, March.
    16. Chen, Hao & Richard, Orlando C. & Dorian Boncoeur, O. & Ford, David L., 2020. "Work engagement, emotional exhaustion, and counterproductive work behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 30-41.
    17. Yucheng Zhang & Zhenyu Liao, 2015. "Consequences of abusive supervision: A meta-analytic review," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 32(4), pages 959-987, December.
    18. Kan Ouyang & Wing Lam & Weidong Wang, 2015. "Roles of gender and identification on abusive supervision and proactive behavior," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 32(3), pages 671-691, September.
    19. Ifzal Ahmad & Khalida Begum, 2023. "Impact of abusive supervision on intention to leave: a moderated mediation model of organizational-based self esteem and emotional exhaustion," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 22(2), pages 669-688, April.
    20. Xiao Yuan & Yaoshan Xu & Yongjuan Li, 2020. "Resource Depletion Perspective on the Link Between Abusive Supervision and Safety Behaviors," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 162(1), pages 213-228, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:151:y:2022:i:c:p:118-125. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.