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The relationship between humorous leadership and innovative behavior

Alexander Pundt (Department of Psychology, Work and Organizational Psychology, University of Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany)

Journal of Managerial Psychology

ISSN: 0268-3946

Article publication date: 9 November 2015

4099

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between humorous leadership and innovative behavior and the moderator effects of creative requirement and perceived innovation climate, beyond transformational leadership, and leader-member exchange (LMX).

Design/methodology/approach

Questionnaire data were collected from 150 employees of various organizations in Germany.

Findings

Employees whose leader used humor more frequently reported to be more innovative, when the employees perceived their tasks to require creativity and innovation. Perceived innovation climate did not moderate the relationship.

Research limitations/implications

Different humor styles rather than just positive humor should be investigated in the future. Future research should incorporate multi-level designs and objective data on innovative behavior.

Practical implications

Humorous leadership is an important element of innovation-relevant leadership behavior. Its use may be integrated in broader leadership development approaches.

Originality/value

The study contributes to knowledge on humorous leadership and its relationship to organizational behavior. It enhances theoretical developments by considering the employees’ task and perceived innovation climate as moderator variables. It helps establish humor as a leadership tool beyond constructs such as LMX or transformational leadership.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The author gratefully thanks Franziska Franke, Jan Schilling, Sabine Sonnentag, Laura Venz, Shay Tzafrir, Lois Tetrick, and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on earlier versions of this manuscript.

Citation

Pundt, A. (2015), "The relationship between humorous leadership and innovative behavior", Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 30 No. 8, pp. 878-893. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMP-03-2013-0082

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2015, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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