Abstract
Building upon incongruity theory, we cast paradox mindset as a novel explanatory mechanism and further propose subordinate interpersonal influence as a boundary condition to explain how and when leader humor has the potential to spur subordinate innovative behavior. We conducted a multi-wave survey and tested our model with a sample of 408 members of 133 teams in the context of a Chinese information and technology (IT) company. Results of multilevel path analyses demonstrate that leader humor facilitates subordinates’ paradox mindset, which contributes to their innovative behavior. These predictions are stronger when subordinate interpersonal influence is higher. Our work enhances theoretical understanding of the incongruous nature of leader humor, and highlights its boundary condition of interpersonal influence, thereby yielding useful insights for practitioners who aim to improve subordinate innovative behavior.
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