Investigation reveals leader's humor influences warmth and competence perceptions in Taiwanese subordinates, indicating cultural significance.
Key Points
This research examines how leader humor affects subordinates' perceptions of warmth and competence through the lens of relationship harmony in a Chinese cultural context.
Conducted a two-wave sample in Taiwan (n = 166) and the U.S. (n = 202) using internet platforms.
Employed structural equation modeling and bootstrapping to analyze direct and indirect effects.
Assessed measurement invariance for sample comparability between the two locations.
In the Taiwan sample, humor positively affected perceptions of leader warmth and competence through relationship harmony.
No similar mediating effects were identified in the U.S. sample.
Findings suggest that both cultural-free and cultural-specific constructs influence leadership perceptions.