If workers have a good relationship with their boss, any humor, negative or positive, could improve job satisfaction, according to a recent study.

"Generally, people think that positive humor, which is inclusive, affiliative and tasteful, is good in leadership, and negative humor, which is aggressive and offensive, is bad," researcher Christopher Robert, associate professor in the Department of Management in the Robert J. Trulaske, Sr. College of Business, said in a statement. "In our study, we found the effects of humor depend on the relationship between leaders and subordinates. Specifically, both positive and negative humor use by leaders is positively related to their subordinates' job satisfaction when the relationship between the leader and subordinates is good. However, when the leader-subordinate relationship is bad, both negative and positive types of humor are associated with lower job satisfaction--in other words, for leaders, sometimes good humor has bad effects and bad humor has good effects on subordinates."

For the study, researchers collected and analyzed data from 70 leaders and their 241 subordinates in 54 organizations. They developed two sets of matched questionnaires, one for leaders and one for their subordinates.

"The findings suggest that if leaders wish to integrate humor into their interactions with subordinates, they should first assess whether or not their subordinates are likely to interpret their humorous overtures positively," Trulaske said. "If a good relationship between the leader and the subordinate exists, then humor--be it positive or negative in tone--will only help to maintain the good relationship."

The findings are detailed in the journal Group & Organization Management.