Skip to content
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Menu
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Menu
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
business, management and accounting
“It's not you, it's me”: transformational leadership and selfdeprecating humor
Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Volume 34, No. 1, Year 2013
Notification
URL copied to clipboard!
Description
The purpose of this paper is to investigate leaders’ use of humor as an expression of how they value themselves relative to others. The paper suggests that humor can minimize or exacerbate the status differences between leaders and followers. The paper hypothesizes that leaders’ use of self or ingroupdeprecating humor would be positively associated with ratings of transformational leadership as they minimize those distinctions, whereas leaders’ use of aggressive humor would be negatively associated with ratings of transformational leadership because it exacerbates status distinctions. A total of 155 undergraduates (58 males, 97 females; M age=20 years, SD=1.31) were assigned randomly to one of four conditions, each depicting a different type of humor in a leader's speech. Leaders using selfdeprecating humor were rated higher on individualized consideration (a factor of transformational leadership) than those that used aggressive humor. The authors encourage future field research on the role of humor as an expression of leaders’ self versus otherorientation. Humor and work might seem inconsistent, but this study demonstrates how leadership can use humor to improve leaderfollower relationships. Furthermore, it contributes to our understanding of selfdeprecating humor which has received scant attention relative to other forms of humor. © 2013, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Authors & Co-Authors
Barling, Julian I.
Canada, Kingston
The Stephen J. R. Smith School of Business
Statistics
Citations: 28
Authors: 1
Affiliations: 3
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1108/01437731311289947
ISSN:
01437739
Research Areas
Health System And Policy
Participants Gender
Female