Uniting and Dividing: An Examination of Supervisors’ Humor Use as a Predictor of Subordinate Dissent Expression

Researchers examined participants’ (N = 281) perceptions of their immediate supervisors’ use of identification and differentiation humor as predictors of their (participants’) dissent expression. Participants’ perceptions of their supervisors’ enactment of identification humor did not predict participant dissent expression. However, participants’ perceptions of their supervisors’ differentiation humor directly predicted their lateral and displaced dissent expressions. Implications and limitations of the findings are addressed in addition to recommendations for supervisors’ humor use.