서비스 조직에서 리더의 유머 사용과 서비스 몰입의 관계 : 심리적 회복력과 직무긴장의 역할

Humor has received a lot of attention in the field and practice of the organization as an effective and important means of communication. Recently, research on humor has been expanded in various academic fields. Although scholars have suggested that leader humor can be a positive leader behavior which benefits employees and their organizations, little empirical research has investigated a more nuanced understanding of the effects of humor used by leaders in the service organization. As a result, not much is known about when and how leader humor can enhance an employee’s commitment to service. Our study aims to identify a mediating mechanism in the relationship between leader humor and service commitment. We proposed that psychological resilience mediates the relationship between leader humor and service commitment. Considering the nature of service organizations, we further suggested that employees’ job tension is a contextual contingency for the effect of leader humor. We tested the proposed research model using a sample of 342 employees from organizations that provide education services to customers. We found that the leader's use of humor is positively related with service commitment. We also found that psychological resilience mediated the relationship between leader humor use and service commitment. In addition, we found that the effect of leader's use of humor on psychological resilience depends on the level of job tension felt by service organization members. These findings emphasize the important role of a leader’s use of humor in the service organizations. We discussed theoretical and practical implications, limitations of this study, and directions for future research.