When joking at work helps you work: The influence of humor on persistence behavior

Abstract

Persistence is often the key to business and career success with many occupations requiring individuals to persist at tasks and maintain their efforts in order to achieve their goals. The ability to persist often separates those who eventually achieve success and those who do not. Research on the psychology of persistence suggests that persistence at a task requires self-control in order to resist temptations to abandon one’s efforts. Extending research in the area of self-control, this paper examines whether humor, a phenomenon rarely studied by management scholars but often prescribed by consultants and management gurus as a useful workplace tool, can be used to increase persistence behavior. Findings from two experimental studies (N = 74 and N = 50) show that humor can be used to increase persistence behavior and that individuals who possess a high level of self-enhancing humor style are more able to benefit from the effects of humor. More importantly, findings also show the discrete emotional mechanism by which humor affects persistence behavior. Implications for research, practice and future directions are discussed.