Current Topics for Humor Research and Practice: Diversity, Virtual Environments, Pandemics, and Sustainability
摘要
In this concluding chapter, we discuss important avenues for humor research. First, globalization and demographic changes in organizations increase diversity with regard to age, sex, nationality, and so on. Thus, there will also be more diversity in communication, emotional expression, and humor within work units. As a consequence, humorous comments may be accompanied by misunderstandings and disrupt the workflow. Second, due to increasing workplace flexibility in organizations, more communication will occur virtually, for instance, via email, chat, video calls, and social media. All of these media transmit less information than traditional face-to-face communication. Therefore, it becomes more difficult for receivers to decipher social and emotional cues that signal a comment is not meant seriously. More misunderstandings in humorous communications may result. Taken together, leaders and employees alike are advised to establish some common ground for humorous communications in their work units. In pandemic times, humor was (and will be?) used for coping and increasing positive mood—even via computer-mediated communication, including memes. Humor also seems to play a role in fostering pro-environmental behavior, making climate risk perceptions salient and with leaders applying humor in this regard. However, evidence from workplace settings remains scarce, thus highlighting the potential for expanding humor research in these contexts.