The relationship between humorous leadership and innovative behavior

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between humorous leadership and innovative behavior and the moderator effects of creative requirement and perceived innovation climate, beyond transformational leadership, and leader-member exchange (LMX). Design/methodology/approach – Questionnaire data were collected from 150 employees of various organizations in Germany. Findings – Employees whose leader used humor more frequently reported to be more innovative, when the employees perceived their tasks to require creativity and innovation. Perceived innovation climate did not moderate the relationship. Research limitations/implications – Different humor styles rather than just positive humor should be investigated in the future. Future research should incorporate multi-level designs and objective data on innovative behavior. Practical implications – Humorous leadership is an important element of innovation-relevant leadership behavior. Its use may be integrated in broader leadership development approaches. Originality/value – The study contributes to knowledge on humorous leadership and its relationship to organizational behavior. It enhances theoretical developments by considering the employees’ task and perceived innovation climate as moderator variables. It helps establish humor as a leadership tool beyond constructs such as LMX or transformational leadership.