Are humorous frontline employees hotels’ secret weapons? Investigating when and why employee sense of humor promotes service performance
基于人岗匹配理论，研究酒店一线员工的幽默感如何通过提升人与服务岗位的匹配度来促进服务绩效，并发现客户接触频率会增强这一作用。
Despite the growing efforts devoted to exploring humor, the extant humor literature neglects the impact of employee sense of humor in the workplace, especially in the hospitality industry, an important yet understudied context. Based on person–environment fit theory, our research examines why and when employee sense of humor can influence frontline hospitality employees’ service performance. Our multi-wave research of 232 frontline hospitality employees in two Chinese hotels unveils that employee sense of humor promotes service performance by enhancing person–service job fit. Moreover, customer contact frequency strengthens the direct impact of employee sense of humor on person–service job fit and the indirect effect of employee sense of humor on service performance through person–service job fit. Our research underlines the pivotal role of humorous frontline employees in hospitality organizations.