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Friend or fiend? Disentangling upward humor's (De)stabilizing effects on hierarchies
Jamie Gloor1, Niels Van Quaquebeke2, Mihwa Seong1
1University of St.Gallen, Switzerland.
Current Opinion in Psychology
|August 19, 2023
Summary
Followers use upward humor strategically to navigate organizational hierarchies. This humor can either reinforce or challenge existing power structures, depending on perceived intent.
Area of Science:
- Organizational Behavior
- Social Psychology
- Communication Studies
Background:
- Humor research in organizations predominantly examines leader humor.
- Follower humor, or "upward humor," remains under-explored.
- Existing literature on upward humor is fragmented.
Purpose of the Study:
- To synthesize existing research on followers' upward humor.
- To propose a novel framework of upward humor as a strategy for managing hierarchies.
- To identify factors influencing the interpretation of upward humor.
Main Methods:
- Literature review and synthesis.
- Conceptual framework development.
- Identification of future research directions.
Main Results:
- Upward humor exists on a continuum from stabilizing to destabilizing.
- Perceived intent (benevolent vs. malicious) is key to interpretation.
- Factors shaping interpretation include power dynamics and context.
Conclusions:
- Upward humor is a strategic tool for followers in hierarchical settings.
- Understanding the intent behind upward humor is crucial.
- Future research should explore multi-modal data and human-robot interactions in humor studies.
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