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Affiliative and aggressive humor in leadership and their effects on employee voice: a serial mediation model

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Abstract

Drawing on social exchange theory and social identity theory, we examine the effects of leader affiliative and aggressive humor on employee voice and propose leader–member exchange (LMX) and organizational identification (OID) as two mediators. Analysis of data from 391 employees revealed that leader affiliative humor had a positive indirect effect on employee voice through LMX and subsequently through OID, while leader aggressive humor had a negative indirect effect on employee voice through LMX and subsequently through OID. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 71802063, 71701054), the 13th Five-Year Plan Project of Philosophy and Social Sciences of Guangdong Province, China (Grant No. GD17CGL03), the Philosophy and Social Science 13th Five-Year Planning Project of Guangzhou, China (Grant No. 2017GZYB47), and the Scientific Innovation Project of Guangdong Province, China (Grant No. 2017WTSCX096).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Management, Guangzhou University, 230 Wai Huan Xi Road, Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center, Guangzhou, 510006, Guangdong, China

    Fang Liu & Man Huang

  2. Department of Management, Hang Seng University of Hong Kong, Hang Shin Link, Siu Lek Yuan, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong

    Irene Hau-Siu Chow

  3. Discovery Program for Global Learners, Okayama University, 2-1-1 Tsushima-naka, Kita-ku, Okayama, 7008530, Japan

    Yuanyuan Gong

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  1. Fang Liu
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Correspondence to Man Huang.

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Liu, F., Chow, I.HS., Gong, Y. et al. Affiliative and aggressive humor in leadership and their effects on employee voice: a serial mediation model. Rev Manag Sci 14, 1321–1339 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11846-019-00334-7

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