Employee Humor Can Shield Them from Abusive Supervision

Drawing upon conservation of resources theory, we develop and test a theoretical model that specifies how and when employee humor toward leaders affects leader abusive supervision. We propose that employee humor is negatively associated with leader abusive supervision via leader relational energy. Furthermore, the negative indirect relationship between employee humor and leader abusive supervision via leader relational energy is stronger for female leaders than for male leaders. An experiment and a multi-wave, multi-source field study provide substantial support for our hypotheses. Our findings contribute to the abusive supervision literature by identifying employee humor as a safe and effective bottom-up approach to prevent leader abusive supervision.

Automated summary

Drawing upon the conservation of resources theory, this study examines how employee humor towards leaders affects leader abusive supervision, and proposes that employee humor is negatively associated with leader abusive supervision through leader relational energy. Furthermore, the study finds that this indirect relationship is stronger for female leaders compared to male leaders. Findings from an experiment and a multi-wave, multi-source field study provide substantial support for these hypotheses. The study contributes to the literature by identifying employee humor as a safe and effective bottom-up approach to prevent leader abusive supervision.