Friend or fiend? Disentangling upward humor's (De)stabilizing effects on hierarchies
Journal
Current Opinion in Psychology
ISSN
2352-250X
Type
journal article
Date Issued
2023-10
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Brad Bitterly
Maurice Schweitzer
Research Team
Jamie Gloor (Asst. Prof. & PI), Eugenia Bajet Mestre (PhD student), Mihwa Seong (Post-Doc), Huong Pham (Post-Doc): PLAID Lab, CCDI, FIM-HSG
Abstract
Humor research in organizations focuses on leaders' humor, but we know far less about followers' humor. Here, we review and synthesize the scattered work on this "upward humor," offering a novel framing of it as a strategy for followers to deal with hierarchies. We propose a continuum of upward humor from stabilizing (i.e., a friend who uses upward humor to reinforce hierarchies, make hierarchies more bearable or stable) to destabilizing (i.e., a fiend who uses upward humor to question or reshape existing hierarchies) depending on perceived intent (i.e., from benevolent to malicious, respectively) and outline key factors that shape these interpretations. We close with novel questions and methods for future research such as power plays, multi-modal data, and human-robot interactions.
Funding(s)
Swiss National Science Foundation
Language
English (United States)
Keywords
Follower Humor
Followership
Behavioral Humor
Ambivalence
Power
Status
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
Refereed
Yes
Volume
53
Start page
101667
Official URL
Division(s)
File(s)![Thumbnail Image]()
open.access
Name
Gloor et al. for COP revision final.pdf
Size
344.53 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
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