Humor at the work site: An exploration of relationships among sense of humor and supervisor subordinate age, gender and type of humor

................................................................................................................................................. HI TABLE OF CONTENTS..........................................................................................................................IV INDEX OF TABLES................................................................................................................................ VII CHAPTER 1 BODY................................................................................................................................. 1 In t r o d u c t io n .................................................................................................................................................................................. 1 L it e r a t u r e R e v ie w . ....................................................................................................................................................................2 H istorical P erspec tive an d S em antics.................................................................................................................................2 F u n ctio n s o f H u m o r in the O rg an iza tio n .........................................................................................................................4 E ffec ts o f H u m o r in the O rg an iza tio n ............................................................................................................................... 7 F em ale-M ale D ifferences in the U se o f H u m o r.............................................................................................................9 S pecific T y p es o f H u m o r..................................................................................................................................................... 11 S trengths and W eaknesses o f R esearch ............................................................................................................................12 C o n c lu s io n ................................................................................................................................................................................. 13 S t a t e m e n t o f P u r p o s e ............................................................................................................................................................ 15 CHAPTER 2 METHODOLOGY......................................................................................................... 17 P a r t ic ip a n t s ................................................................................................................................................................................. 17 P r o c e d u r e s .....................................................................................................................................................................................17 M e a s u r e m e n t ................................................................................................................................................................................ 18 Da t a A n a l y s is ............................................................................................................................................................................ 20 CHAPTER 3 RESULTS................................................................................ 23 G e n e r a l R e s u l t s ........................................................................................................................................................................ 23 R e s u l t s o f A n a l y s is f o r R Q 1 ..............................................................................................................................................2 6 R e s u l t s o f a n a l y s is f o r R Q 2 ..............................................................................................................................................28 R e s u l t s o f A n a l y s is f o r R Q 3 ..............................................................................................................................................32 CHAPTER 4 DISCUSSION................................................................................................................37 R Q 1) IS THE RESPONDENTS' SENSE OF HUMOR (SCORE ON THE MULTIDIMENSIONAL SENSE OF HUMOR S c a l e ) a s s o c ia t e d w it h t h e a g e a n d g e n d e r o f t h e r e s p o n d e n t ? ..............................................................37 R Q 2) ARE SUBORDINATES’ AGE, GENDER, AND SENSE OF HUMOR AND SUPERVISORS’ GENDER PREDICTORS OF THE SUBORDINATES’ USE OF POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE HUMOR AT WORK?............................38 R Q 3) D o THE PERSONAL VARIABLES OF GENDER, AGE AND WORKPLACE HAVE AN. ASSOCIATION WITH THE SITUATION VARIABLES OF THE USE OF “POSITIVE” AND “NEGATIVE” HUMOR AT WORK BY BOTH THE SUBORDINATE AND SUPERVISOR?.............................................................................................................................................41 CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS...........................................................................................................43 IMPLICATIONS.............................................................. 4 4 L im it a t io n s ................................................................................................................................................................................... 45 R e c o m m e n d a t io n s f o r F u t u r e R e s e a r c h .................................................................................................................. 46 REFERENCES............................................................................................................................................. 48