An Investigation into the Impact of Affiliative and Aggressive Leader Humor Perceptions on Counterproductive and Citizenship Work Behaviors: Moderated by Power Distance Orientation

Abstract

Leader humor is an increasingly studied construct in organizational research, yet its behavioral consequences remain underexplored. Drawing on relational leadership theory and leader-member exchange (LMX), this study examined the effects of affiliative and aggressive humor on organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB) and counterproductive work behaviors (CWB), with power distance orientation (PDO) as a moderator and LMX and agreeableness as covariates. Data were collected from employed adults via an online sample (N = 307). Results indicated that aggressive humor was positively related to CWB, whereas affiliative humor did not demonstrate consistent main effects. The hypothesized moderating effects of PDO were not supported. Exploratory analyses revealed that affiliative humor interacted with LMX and agreeableness in predicting OCBO, such that its effects became more positive at higher levels of relational quality and agreeableness. Findings suggest that affiliative humor may function as a relational amplifier, while aggressive humor represents a more consistently detrimental leadership behavior.