Leader Communication

Effects of Leader Sarcasm on Followers

Leaders often engage in costly, self-interested behaviors when they have the power and discretion to do so. Because followers are well-positioned to reduce these behaviors, I test how a specific follower communication—sarcasm expression—affects a particularly costly behavior: leader overpay. As expected, across 3 behavioral experiments, results show that follower sarcasm reduced leader overpay (vs. the control/no humor and vs. non-sarcastic humor), especially for leaders with weak moral identity, but the field study revealed that sarcasm only increased leader accountability when it was publicly (vs. privately) enacted. While talk is cheap, these results show that follower sarcasm can also be valuable, because it reduces leaders’ overpay by increasing accountability. See here for the paper in Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.

Humor and its Effects for Leaders in the East and in the West

It is ever more important for the increasingly boundary-less leaders of global businesses to take caution when using humor in mixed cultural company or in an entirely different culture. Although humor is often touted as reliable tool for effective leadership, various cultural forces–three of which we review here–may meaningfully alter employees’ humor appreciation and the effects of leaders’ humor. Overall, humor can be an effective tool for a global leader if a leader possesses cultural intelligence and uses humor under the right contexts, with the right followers, and at the right time. For the full-text publication, click here.

What Works to Reduce Algorithm Anxiety at Work?

In an applied piece, we explore what algorithm anxiety is as well as some ways to reduce it. Article (in German) here funded by the University of Zurich Digital Society Initiative.

Patient-Physician Communication

• Which terms do adults prefer that their doctors use to describe their weight, do these preferences depend on the person’s current BMI, and what effects might such terms have? (Published paper here)

• Which terms should be used to refer to children’s weight, do these preferences depend on the person’s current BMI, and what effects might such terms have? (Published paper here)

Public Health Communications

Which terms do adults prefer that weight-related public health campaigns use to describe their weight, do these preferences depend on the person’s current BMI, and what effects might such terms have? (Published paper here)

Educators’ Communications (with Students)

• What kinds of weight-based teasing and/or bullying do youth experience, who are the perpetrators, and what effects might these experiences have? (Published papers here & here on experiences; preferred interventions here)

• What kinds of weight biases do physical education teachers have, does it drive differential interpretations of youths’ teasing or bullying, and does it differ according to the youths’ gender and/or bodyweight? (Published papers here & here)

Humor (A Specific Form of Communication)

Friend or Fiend? Disentangling Humor’s Effects on Hierarchies

Humor research in organizations focuses on leaders’ humor, but we know far less about followers’ humor. Here, we review and synthesize the scattered work on this “upward humor,” offering a novel framing of it as a strategy for followers to deal with hierarchies. We propose a continuum of upward humor from stabilizing (i.e., a friend who uses upward humor to reinforce hierarchies, make hierarchies more bearable or stable) to destabilizing (i.e., a fiend who uses upward humor to question or reshape existing hierarchies) depending on perceived intent (i.e., from benevolent to malicious, respectively) and outline key factors that shape these interpretations. We close with novel questions and methods for future research such as power plays, multi-modal data, and human-robot interactions. For the full-text publication in this special issue of Current Opinion in Psychology on workplace humor, click here.

Humor and its Effects for Leaders in the East and in the West

It is ever more important for the increasingly boundary-less leaders of global businesses to take caution when using humor in mixed cultural company or in an entirely different culture. Although humor is often touted as reliable tool for effective leadership, various cultural forces–three of which we review here–may meaningfully alter employees’ humor appreciation and the effects of leaders’ humor. Overall, humor can be an effective tool for a global leader if a leader possesses cultural intelligence and uses humor under the right contexts, with the right followers, and at the right time. For the full-text publication, click here.

Risqué Business? Humor in the Post-#MeToo Era 

#MeToo has undoubtedly triggered profound, positive effects for employees and organizations by increasing awareness of sexual harassment and empowering employees to speak up about it. However, it might have also created a backlash by making it more difficult for men and women to work with each other. Thus, we tested humor as a proactive, interpersonal intervention. In a series of experiments, results showed that a short, positive pun decreases intergroup anxiety for women, but increases it for men, when sexual harassment concerns are salient. Although this is the first study to our knowledge that reveals negative effects of positive humor for men, it seems that men's humor signals the very behaviors that trigger much of this post-#MeToo anxiety in the first place: flirtatious, promiscuous, and harassing behavior. See here for the paper in Journal of Applied Psychology.

Does it Pay to be Sarcastic?

Leaders often engage in costly, self-interested behaviors when they have the power and discretion to do so. Because followers are well-positioned to reduce these behaviors, I test how a specific follower communication—sarcasm expression—affects a particularly costly behavior: leader overpay. As expected, across 3 behavioral experiments, results show that follower sarcasm reduced leader overpay (vs. the control/no humor and vs. non-sarcastic humor), especially for leaders with weak moral identity, but the field study revealed that sarcasm only increased leader accountability when it was publicly (vs. privately) enacted. While talk is cheap, these results show that follower sarcasm can also be valuable, because it reduces leaders’ overpay by increasing accountability. See here for the paper in Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.

Weight-Related Communication

Together with Dr. Rebecca Puhl (at Yale University), we led an active stream of research asking questions such as:

·         For a general overview of weight stigma, its nature, and its consequences, see our easily digestible chapter here.

·         Which terms do adults prefer that their doctors use to describe their weight, do these preferences depend on the person’s current BMI, and what effects might such terms have? (Published paper here)

·         Which terms should be used to refer to children’s weight, do these preferences depend on the person’s current BMI, and what effects might such terms have? (Published paper here)

·         Which terms do adults prefer that weight-related public health campaigns use to describe their weight, do these preferences depend on the person’s current BMI, and what effects might such terms have? (Published paper here)

·         What kinds of weight-based teasing and/or bullying do youth experience, who are the perpetrators, and what effects might these experiences have? (Published papers here & here on experiences; preferred interventions here)

·         What kinds of weight biases do physical education teachers have, does it drive differential interpretations of youths’ teasing or bullying, and does it differ according to the youths’ gender and/or bodyweight? (Published papers here & here)

·         Are empathy and/or perspective-taking effective strategies to reduce weight-based bias and prejudice via an online intervention? (Published paper here)

·         Are there also weight biases towards parents who are overweight, does this differ according to the parent’s gender, and what effects might such a bias have on coworkers’ support for their colleagues’ parental leaves? (Published paper here)

Emotion (A Common Consequence of Communication)

Risqué Business? Humor in the Post-#MeToo Era 

#MeToo has undoubtedly triggered profound, positive effects for employees and organizations by increasing awareness of sexual harassment and empowering employees to speak up about it. However, it might have also created a backlash by making it more difficult for men and women to work with each other. Thus, we tested humor as a proactive, interpersonal intervention. In a series of experiments, results showed that a short, positive pun decreases intergroup anxiety for women, but increases it for men, when sexual harassment concerns are salient. Although this is the first study to our knowledge that reveals negative effects of positive humor for men, it seems that men's humor signals the very behaviors that trigger much of this post-#MeToo anxiety in the first place: flirtatious, promiscuous, and harassing behavior. See the paper here in Journal of Applied Psychology.

Your Pain is My Gain? Schadenfreude and Workplace Mistreatment

Although we tend to assume that after witnessing workplace mistreatment, observers feel angry towards perpetrators and sadness or empathy with the victims. However, one employee’s pain can also facilitate another employee’s gain. In this theoretical paper, we outline the conditions under which a colleague’s social mistreatment at work can facilitate a person’s professional goals, triggering schadenfreude (i.e., pleasure in another’s pain), and potentially propagating more workplace mistreatment. See here for the published paper in Academy of Management Review.

What Works to Reduce Algorithm Anxiety at Work?

In an applied piece, we explore what algorithm anxiety is as well as some ways to reduce it. Article (in German) here funded by the University of Zurich Digital Society Initiative.