Funny business: Using humor for good in the workplace
Abstract Depending on how it is used, humor can have both positive (Lang and Lee 2010. Workplace humor and organizational creativity. The International Journal of Human Resource Management 21(1) 46 60) and negative (Moran and Hughes 2006. Coping with stress: Social work students and humour. Social Work Education 25(5) 501 517) effects on well being in the workplace. Even when attempts at humor are well intended, they may end up being misinterpreted and doing more harm than good. In the current paper, we suggest that humor can be used in the workplace to cultivate better relationships, create a more positive work environment, and prevent unintended detrimental effects of misplaced or misused humor. We present findings from our study that examines the relationship between humor and well being, with social support serving as the mediator. The positive relationship between humor and well being is explained through increased social support in the workplace. These findings suggest that conflicting results in the relationship between humor and well being could be explained through the theory that only certain types of humor (such as positive humor) increase social support, and therefore well being. These findings can be used to help employees and managers understand how to better use humor to have positive effects in the workplace.