Leader positive humor and organizational cynicism: LMX as a mediator

Abstract

Purpose– Leader-member exchange (LMX) has been proposed as a core mechanism which accounts for the impact of various antecedents on employee outcomes. As such, the purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating effect of LMX regarding the relationship between leader positive humor and employees’ perceptions of organizational cynicism.Design/methodology/approach– Data were collected from 114 public employees. In order to examine the authors’ hypotheses hierarchical regression analysis was conducted.Findings– As hypothesized, results demonstrated that LMX mediates the relationship between leader positive humor and organizational cynicism.Research limitations/implications– Data were drawn from public employees and, therefore, this may constrain the generalizability of the results. Also, the cross-sectional analysis of the data cannot directly assess causality.Originality/value– This is the first empirical study to examine the mediating effect of LMX in the relationship between leader humor and employees’ perceptions of organizational cynicism.