Supervisor’s Styles of Humour and Employee’s Satisfaction: Is Gender a Matter of Influence?

What the paper says

Humor in the workplace has garnered significant attention as a research area within organizational behavior and management. However, there exists a notable gap in knowing the influence of supervisors' humor on employee satisfaction, particularly regarding the role of gender in this dynamic within the Sri Lankan context. This study seeks to explore the correlation between supervisor humor styles (affiliative and aggressive) and employee satisfaction, while also considering the potential moderating effect of gender. Employing a quantitative approach, this research engaged 220 employees through convenience sampling. The proposed model was assessed through hierarchical multiple regression, and demographic and personal variables were controlled. The findings of this study indicate that both affiliative and aggressive humor styles of supervisors significantly impact employee satisfaction. Additionally, the findings imply that the association between affiliative and aggressive humor and job satisfaction is significantly influenced by gender. While aggressive humor tends to make employees dissatisfied affiliative humor from supervisors tends to increase satisfaction among employees. By examining how various supervisor humor types affect employee satisfaction in the setting of Sri Lankan culture, this study contributes to the body of existing work. Further, it offers useful insights by pointing out the humor styles that have a favorable or bad impact on worker happiness in Sri Lankan workplaces.