The effect of leader's humor on employee well-being: the mediating role of leaders charisma

The study aimed to examine how leader's use of humor relates to two dimensions of employee well-being—psychological well-being and workplace well-being—and to test whether leaders' perceived charisma mediates these relationships. Additionally, the study explored whether the gender of the leader (specifically, being female) moderates the effects of humor and charisma on employee well-being. The data for the study were collected online through a survey distributed to 247 employees working in the service sector and were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) with the SmartPLS statistical software. The results revealed that a leader's humor is positively associated with their perceived charisma. Furthermore, perceived charisma was found to be positively associated with employee well-being. In addition, perceived charisma partially mediated the relationships between leader humor and both psychological well-being and workplace well-being. The gender of the leader (female) was found not to moderate the relationship between humor and employee well-being, whereas it was shown to moderate the relationship between humor and perceived leader charisma.