Journal of Management Research

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The Relationship between Humor and Group Productivity


Affiliations
1 Department of Management College of Business Administration University of Texas Pan-American Edinburg, TX 78541
2 Department of Management, Marketing and General Business College of Business Administration West Texas A&M University Canyon, TX 79016
     

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Humor is an important factor in group dynamics. Based on humor literature from several fields, humor was predicted to have a positive effect on group productivity. An experiment was conducted to determine if humor can be induced and if it has a positive effect on group productivity. The results indicate that humor can be induced and increase a group's humor use. However, groups with people who used more humor were not more productive. Men in general and younger participants used humor more than women and older participants. Suggestions are offered for researchers interested in using experiments to test the effect of humor on groups.

Keywords

Group Productivity, Group Cohesion, Organization Culture
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  • The Relationship between Humor and Group Productivity

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Authors

Eric J Romero
Department of Management College of Business Administration University of Texas Pan-American Edinburg, TX 78541
Terry R Pearson
Department of Management, Marketing and General Business College of Business Administration West Texas A&M University Canyon, TX 79016

Abstract


Humor is an important factor in group dynamics. Based on humor literature from several fields, humor was predicted to have a positive effect on group productivity. An experiment was conducted to determine if humor can be induced and if it has a positive effect on group productivity. The results indicate that humor can be induced and increase a group's humor use. However, groups with people who used more humor were not more productive. Men in general and younger participants used humor more than women and older participants. Suggestions are offered for researchers interested in using experiments to test the effect of humor on groups.

Keywords


Group Productivity, Group Cohesion, Organization Culture

References