Does workplace fun affect employees' voice behavior? Leader–member exchange as a mediator

Although the relationship between workplace fun and employee performance is well-documented, research on the link between workplace fun and voice behavior is still in a nascent stage. Integrating workplace fun, leader–member exchange (LMX), and voice behavior theories, in the current research we examined LMX as a mediator of the link between workplace fun and voice behavior. We conducted a crosssectional survey with a sample of 307 subordinates and 82 supervisors employed by eight Chinese companies, and used structural equation modeling to analyze the data. Results show that workplace fun was related both directly and indirectly (via LMX) to employees' voice behavior. Our findings offer insight into the mechanistic processes through which workplace fun affects employees' voice behavior, and suggest that to promote employees' voice behavior, a fun work environment and high-quality LMX relationship should be established in organizations.

Workplace fun and informal learning: the mediating role of motivation to learn, learning opportunities and management support

Purpose Past research shows that workplace fun has a positive effect on informal learning, however, the role of individual and organizational mediating variables in this relation has not been studied much. This study aims to examine the role of management support, motivation to learn and learning opportunity in the relationship between workplace fun and informal learning. Design/methodology/approach In this multivariate correlation study, data were collected through questionnaires. In total, 200 employees of the petrochemical industry participated. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. Findings The main finding suggests that motivation to learn contributes to informal learning. Fun in the workplace has a positive and significant indirect effect on informal learning by providing a variety of opportunities to learn; the management support in the final model also mediates the relationship between workplace fun and opportunities to learn. Practical implications The results indicate the benefits of creating and maintaining fun in the workplace to improve informal learning. The authors will be better able to advise by providing abundant resources for formal training such as time, learning climate and financial resources, workplace fun can be used as a practical strategy to promote informal learning where the workplace is fun, innovation, creativity and performance improvement occur. Managers should make arrangements to spontaneously motivate employees to learn informally and provide fun and varied opportunities for informal learning. Originality/value In this study, the multiple correlations and the effect of motivation variables, learning opportunity and management support in the relationship between workplace fun and informal learning were studied. Examining how these relationships are and identifying the moderator of this relationship because of individual and environmental differences requires further studies.

Leader–member exchange mediates the relationship between workplace fun and employee creativity

Although previous researchers have explored positive outcomes of workplace fun, the workplace fun–employee creativity relationship has received little attention. We investigated the link between workplace fun and employee creativity, and the mediating effect of leader–member exchange (LMX) on this relationship. Participants comprised 226 subordinates and 45 supervisors from Chinese stateowned companies. We employed structural equation modeling analysis to examine the hypotheses. Results show that workplace fun did not have a significant direct relationship with employee creativity. However, LMX fully mediated the workplace fun–employee creativity link. These results suggest that, to promote employee creativity, organizations should create a fun work environment in which employees can develop high-quality LMX.

Service employees’ workplace fun and turnover intention: the influence of psychological capital and work engagement

Purpose As a way of addressing how best turnover intention among service employees can be reduced through workplace fun, this study aims to examine how psychological capital (PsyCap) and work engagement, respectively, moderates and mediates the relationship between workplace fun and turnover intention in a moderated mediation. Design/methodology/approach Using cross-sectional quantitative design, data were collected by means of questionnaires and convenience sampling. The hypotheses were tested with 482 service employees from the hospitality industry in Ghana using PROCESS macro. Findings The findings depict that work engagement mediates the relationship between workplace fun and turnover intention among service employees. Also, PsyCap moderates the workplace fun–engagement relationship, in addition to the workplace fun–work engagement–turnover intention relationship. Specifically, both relationships are stronger for employees with high PsyCap. Practical implications The authors would like to conclude that as frontline employees are usually subjected to stressful conditions, monotonous working environments and emotional labor, which affect the quitting intention, incorporating fun into the workplace will strategically help frontline employees to be engaged in their work and reduce their intentions to quit. Originality/value With a focus on a developing economy, this work is novel in exploring possible factors that may help increase work engagement and reduce turnover intention among service employees.

Can Workplace Fun Moderate Organizational Identification and Job Satisfaction Relationship

Job satisfaction is critical to the changing and growing challenges of the service sector. The present research study investigates the moderation effect of workplace fun on the relationship between organizational identification (OID) and job satisfaction. The sample was 220 frontline employees in 57 hotels in Nigeria. We found that OID positively influenced job satisfaction. Additionally, workplace fun moderated the effect of OID onjob satisfaction. The findings suggest that organizational leaders can use fun to generate favorable organizational outcomes. We also found that OID promotes workplace fun, which, in turn, results in high job satisfaction. The implication is that when employees feel a sense of oneness within an organization, they will effectively define their work roles and feel accountable for the decision. Organizations that want to inspire positive customer relation behaviors should encourage employees’ OID and implement friendly workplace practices. The study added twofold values to this research area. We explore OID and workplace fun. The study also explores the moderation effect of workplace fun on the relationship between OID and job satisfaction. Thus, managers can increase employee job satisfaction by encouraging workplace fun.

Does National Culture Matter? Restaurant Employees’ Workplace Humor and Job Embeddedness

The ability to retain employees is a tenacious phenomenon in the restaurant workplace. Focusing on job embeddedness (JE) as possible explanatory factor in the application of the broaden-and-build theory and the social exchange theory, this study assesses the relationships among restaurant employees’ workplace humor, perceived workplace fun, perceived workplace aggression, and organizational JE (OJE). It examines to what extent these relationships vary across contexts, depending on national culture. A structural modeling analysis of data from 540 employees in restaurants in the United States and China provides broad support for our hypothesis: Workplace fun is positively associated with restaurant employees’ OJE while only coworker aggression is negatively related to employees’ OJE. Restaurant employees’ use of affiliative humor and aggressive humor is positively related to perceived workplace fun and negatively associated with perceived workplace aggression. Furthermore, national culture moderates the relationships between affiliative humor and perceived workplace aggression, aggressive humor and perceived workplace fun, as well as between workplace fun and OJE. Our findings contribute to clarifying the dynamics between perceptions of certain organizational factors for understanding when employees may develop OJE. The implication is that restaurant companies with international operations can foster OJE by placing various levels of emphasis on types of humor, workplace fun, and workplace aggression, in societies where individuals perceive these variables differently.