I started a joke: a correlational study of humor styles and employer-employee working relationships

Abstract

This study aimed to find a correlation between organizational humor styles and the employeremployee relationship among employees at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). This study also aimed to find the most commonly used humor style and the nature of these employees' relationships with their employers. Via random sampling, a total of 87 respondents participated in this quantitative research. Instruments used for this study were Martin and Puhlik-Doris' (2003) 32-item Humor Styles Questionnaire (HSQ) and Graen and Uhl-Bien's (1995) 7-item LeaderMember Exchange (LMX-7) Questionnaire. Results showed that the most commonly used humor style among BSP employees was the affiliative humor style (67%). Results also showed that most of the BSP employees described their relationships with their employers as falling within the moderate range. Finally, using Pearson's Correlation test to analyze the data, no significant correlation was found between the affiliative humor style and LMX (r = -0.066; n = 87; p = 0.541); self-enhancing humor style and LMX (r = 0.011; n = 87; p = 0.92); aggressive humor style and LMX (r = 0.107; n = 87; p = 0.325), and; self-defeating humor style and LMX (r = 0.021; n = 87; p = 0.848). From the gathered data, it is shown that using humor in the workplace does not translate into a high-quality level of the BSP employees' with their employers. This then implies that using humor in BSP may not be the most recommended way to enhance a relationship with employers. The results also imply that ingratiation may not be a favorable enough motive of seeking an enhanced working relationship with an employer. Lastly, the results imply that because the employees do not perceive a spectacular effort on their employers' parts to interact with them, they themselves should take the initiative in doing so. Keywords: humor, humor styles, leader-member exchange