Relationships Between Leader's Humor and Subordinate Perceptions of Leader Warmth and Competence

The Role of Relationship Harmony

Bibliographic Data

ID21391792
AuthorsChih-Chieh Chu (0000-0002-9901-2129, Department of Business Administration National Changhua University of Education Changhua City Taiwan, corresponding author), Shu‐Cheng Steve (National Taipei University of Business), Shu‐Cheng Steve Chi (0000-0002-3547-9993, Department of Business Administration National Taiwan University Taipei Taiwan), Hsi‐Fang Lai (0000-0002-5614-1692, Department of Business Administration National Chung Cheng University Chiayi Taiwan), Inju Yang (0000-0001-5013-2827, Independent researcher), Ray Friedman (0000-0002-9205-2320, Owen Graduate School of Management Vanderbilt University Nashville Tennessee USA)
Year2026
Publication date2026-04-21
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueScandinavian Journal of Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0036-5564 • E-ISSN: 1467-9450
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/sjop.70105
PMID42015551
OpenAlexW7155214827
LanguageEN
References cited61

We proposed that in a Chinese context, rather than in the U.S. context, subordinates' experience of relationship harmony is a culturally grounded mediating mechanism, beyond leader‐member exchange, linking leader's humor to subordinates' perceptions of leadership warmth and competence. We collected a two‐wave sample in Taiwan ( n = 166) and in the U.S. ( n = 202) through internet platforms. Structural equation modeling and bootstrapping were employed to test both direct and indirect effects, and measurement invariance was assessed to ensure sample comparability. We found that the mediating effects of relationship harmony at work only exist in the Taiwan data, not in the U.S. data. Our results of the Taiwan data showed that acts of humor are associated with perceptions of leadership warmth and competence via an elevated level of harmony. Our results suggest that both cultural‐free construct (e.g., LMX) and cultural‐specific construct (e.g., relationship harmony) could operate simultaneously within a given cultural context (in our case, in Chinese contexts)

Bootstrapping (finance) · Competence (human resources) · Construct (python library) · Harmony (color) · Perception · Sample (material) · Structural equation modeling · Emotions and Moral Behavior · Humor Studies and Applications · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies