How can leader humor enhance subordinates’ service creativity? The moderator of subordinates’ SFIT and the mediator of role modeling

Purpose: As an essential personality charm of leaders, humor can bring a series of positive outcomes to both users and receivers. However, there is also evidence that the impact of leaders’ humor (LH) is constrained by individuals, teams and organizational factors. The aim of this research is to investigate the relationship between LH and subordinates’ service creativity. Based on social learning theory and previous literature on LH, this paper identifies role modeling as the mediator and suggests that subordinates’ sensitivity to favorable interpersonal treatment (SFIT) moderates these relationships. Design/methodology/approach: In order to test the proposed moderated mediation model, this study employed hierarchical multiple regression and path analyses with valid data of 348 samples. Findings: Results revealed that LH positively affects role modeling and service creativity of subordinates, while subordinates' SFIT positively moderates the relationship between LH and subordinates' service creativity via role modeling. Practical implications: In compliance with these findings, this research suggests that enterprises should pay attention to the role of humor from middle managers and strengthen managers' role modeling through multiple measures to establish a relaxed and harmonious atmosphere in the workplace. Originality/value: Built on the conceptual framework, this study contributes to the literature on LH and employees’ service creativity by treating role modeling as the mechanism and SFIT as the moderator. This research is one of the first few empirical studies to investigate the relationship between LH and service creativity of service personnel in the service industry.