Humor, Gender, and Perceived Leader Effectiveness in China

摘要

In work settings in China, positive humor appears to have beneficial effects similar to those in the U.S. (e.g., enhancing leaders' ratings), while negative humor yields some differences. Although as previously found in the U.S., Chinese males self-reported more negative humor use than did females, negative humor appears to be less appreciated in China by both genders than in the U.S. This seems especially true of insult humor, which may not even be considered humorous by most Chinese. We recommend that Westerners assuming managerial positions in China seek to understand what constitutes positive humor and what constitutes negative humor from the perspectives of both males and females. In general, it appears that negative humor should be avoided in China.