Exploring systematic and unsystematic change of dynamic leader behaviours: a weekly diary study on the relation between instrumental leadership, stress, and health change

Does My Humor Touch You? Effect of Leader Self-Deprecating Humour on Employee Silence: The Mediating Role of Leader-Member Exchange

Purpose

Silence is a typical negative behaviour exhibited by employees when they are faced with tension and stress and is influenced by a number of factors. Leaders have an important influence on employees' emotions and behaviour, but the research is not yet clear enough. In this paper, we focus on the research frontier of self-deprecating humour of leaders, aiming to analyse its effect on employee silence and discuss the mechanism of the role of leader-member exchange (LMX) in it, based on social exchange theory.

Methods

We conducted a regression analysis and bootstrap test for mediating effects based on 2531 data from 151 financial institutions in mainland China. A simple random sampling was taken of the target population to ensure an unbiased sample. Using Harman's single-factor test to check the data for common method bias. Regression analysis and Bootstrap test were used to analyze the correlation between variables and mediating effect models.

Findings

(a) Leader self-deprecating humour significantly reduces employee silence and effectively improves the quality of LMX; (b) There is a significant negative relationship between LMX and employee silence; (c) LMX plays a mediating role in the process of self-deprecating humour influencing employee silence and this mediating effect is complete; (d) Affective exchange between leaders and employees appears to be an essential factor in reducing stress from leaders and reducing employee silence.

Originality/Value

We attempt to open the black box of the mechanism of action between leader self-deprecating humour and employee silence, enrich and expand the application of social exchange theory to negative employee behavior, and provide new theoretical knowledge and empirical evidence from developing countries.

Practical Implications

The results of the study indicated that self-deprecating humor of leaders can significantly inhibit employee silence through high levels of LMX. Moreover, the mediating role played by LMX was complete. Therefore, organizations should not only focus on the role of leadership humor, but also to achieve mutual respect and trust between leaders and subordinates, and an emotional exchange that goes beyond economic relationships.

When Your Boss Is Under Pressure: On the Relationships Between Leadership Inconsistency, Leader and Follower Strain

It is widely acknowledged that leadership is crucial for follower health. Under stress, positive leader behaviors such as transformational leadership may decrease and the risk of negative behaviors such as abusive leadership may increase. Followers experience these discrepancies in leadership between routine and stressful periods as inconsistent. While positive and negative leadership is generally associated with follower strain, inconsistency may be stressful by itself, because it entails insecurity and unpredictability in the leader-follower relationship. We suggest that the level of perceived inconsistency and volatility in leaders' behavior across situations is an additional risk factor for follower health. Moreover, we expect perceived inconsistency to be stronger when leaders are strained. This survey study with N = 304 employees examines the relationships between leadership inconsistency and leader as well as follower strain from a followers' perspective. Participants rated their leaders' transformational and abusive leadership separately for routine and stressful conditions, their leaders' strain and their own strain. Employees who experienced stronger discrepancies in leadership between routine and stressful conditions, i.e., more inconsistency, experienced more strain. Moreover, from a followers' perspective, inconsistencies were stronger when leaders were strained. The findings provide evidence that leadership is less stable and consistent than generally assumed and that inconsistency is an additional risk factor. Leader strain may threaten the consistency of leadership and thereby negatively affect follower health.