Predicting Self-Efficacy of Secondary School Principals Through Their Style of Humor

The present study aimed to explain style of humor as a predictor of self-efficacy among secondary school principals. The research method was descriptive-correlational and 103 principals were selected by stratified random sampling proportionate to size. Data was collected from two questionnaires; Martin's Humor Style and Tschannen-Moran and Gareis's Self-Efficacy Questionnaire. Validity of the questionnaire was estimated using Cronbach's alpha coefficient that determined evaluations of 0.80 and 0.74, for content and reliability respectively. Pearson Correlation Coefficient and Stepwise Analysis were used for data analysis. In general, results in showed no statistically significant relationship between humor and self-efficacy. However, there was a significant positive relationship between effectiveness of principals in management, educational leadership and ethical leadership with affiliative and self-enhancing humor styles and the strongest relationship was observed between promoting humor style with self-efficacy in educational leadership (r = 0.411). Another finding of this study was that self-enhancing and affiliative humor styles were able to predict 17.7 percent of variance in self-efficacy of the principals.

PDF

___

Arendt, L. A. (2009). Transformational leadership and follower creativity: The moderating effect of leader humor. Review of Business Research, 9, 100-106.
Avolio, B. J., Howell, J. M., & Sosik, J. J. (1999). A funny thing happened on the way to the bottom line: Humor as a moderator of leadership style. Academy of Management Journal, 42(2), 219-27.
Bahadari Khosroshahi, J. & Khanjani, Z. (2011). The relationship between humor and stressful life events and depression among students. Journal of Research in Medical Sciences, 14(2), 96-100.
Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Bulletin, 84(2), 191-215.
Bandura, A. & Schunk, D. H. (2004). Cultivating competence, self-efficacy and intrinsic interest through proximal self motivation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 41(3), 586-98.
Bateman, William K. (2006). The relationship between sense of humor and situational leadership styles, flexibility and effectiveness. (Doctoral Dissertation), Nova Southeastern University.
Behpazouh, A., Jahangiri, M., & Zahrakar, K. (2010). Humor skills training and reducing depression in patients with spinal cord injuries. Developmental Psychology, 23(2), 227-236.
Blevens, Teresa L. (2010). Humor in therapy: Expectations, sense of humor and perceived effectiveness (Doctoral Dissertation), Auburn University.
Breeze, L., Dawson, A., & Khazhinsky, S. (2004). Humor in the workplace: Anecdotal evidence suggests connection to employee performance. Perspectives in Business, St Edwards University.
Cann, A., Zapata, Christine L., & Davis, H. B. (2009). Positive and negative styles of humor in communication. Communication Quarterly, 57(4), 452-468. Doi: 10.1080/01463370903313398.
Collinson, D. L. (2002) Managing humour. Journal of Management Studies, 39, 269-288.
Cooper, CD. (2008). Elucidating the bonds of workplace humor: A relational process model. Human Relations, 61(8), 1087-1115.
Cooper, C.D. (2002). No laughing matter: The impact of supervisor humor on leader-member exchange quality. Dissertation Abstracts International, (6-A), 2161.
Crawford, S. A., & Caltabiano, N. J. (2011). Promoting emotional well-being through the use
of humour. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 6(3), 237-252. Decker, W.H. & Rotondo, D.M. (2001). Relationships among gender, type of humor, and perceived leader effectiveness. Journal of Managerial Issues, 13(4), 450-465.
Eftekhari, H. (2009). Humor, tenderness entering the world of work. Tadbir, 208, 53-56.
Falanga, R., De Caroli, M. E., & Sagone, E. (2014). Humor styles, self-efficacy and prosocial tendencies in middle adolescents. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 127, 214-218.
Evans-Palmers, Teri. (2009). The relationship between sense of humor and self- efficacy: An exploration of the beliefs of art teachers (Doctoral Dissertation), The University of the Incarnate Word.
Fallahi, N. & Fallahi, M. (2014). The relationship between humor and self-efficacy and emotional intelligence among teachers. First National Conference on English Language, Literature and Translation in Education, 11-12 Spt.
Falanga, R., Caroli, M., & Sagone, E. (2013). Humor styles, self-efficacy and prosocial tendencies in middle adolescents. Social and Behavioral Sciences, 127, 214-218.
Ghadampour, E., Mottaghi Nia, M., & Garavand, H. (2015). Reliability and validity of Collective Teacher Efficacy Belief Scale (CTEBS) in Gonabad primary schools. Educational Innovations, 14(3), 51-68, http://noavaryedu.oerp.ir/en/faslnamearticles/876.
Godshalk VM. & Sosik, JJ. (2000). Does mentor-protégé agreement on mentor leadership behavior influence the quality of a mentoring relationship?. Group and Organization Management, 25(3), 291-317.
Gostick, A. & Christopher, S. (2008). The levity effect: Why ıt pays to lighten up. Wiley.
Hejazi, E. & Shakoorifar, M. (2008). Behavioral responses to ambiguous social stimuli, with the ratio documents, social purpose and perceived efficacy in children. Psychology and Educational Sciences, 4(2), 47-65.
Hoffman, M. (2007). Does sense of humor moderate the relationship between leadership style and conflict management style?. (Doctoral Dissertation), University of Nebraska.
Holmes, J. & Marra, M. (2002). Having a laugh at work: How humor contributes to workplace culture. Journal of Pragmatics, 34(12), 1683-1710.
Khoshouei, M. S. (2009). The relationship between humor and psychological disorders, preuniversity students in Isfahan. Ferdowsi University of Psychology and Education Studies, 3(9), 95-111.
Khoshouei, M. S., Oreyzi Samani, S. H. & Aghaei, A. (2009). Construction and validation of sense of humor questionnaire. Psychological Research, 12(1,2), 26-39, http://en.journals.sid.ir/ViewPaper.aspx?ID=167230.
Krejcie, R.V. & Morgan, D.W. (1970). Determining sample size for research activities. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 30, 607-610.
Kuiper, N. A., McKenzie, S. D. & Belanger, K. A. (1995). Cognitive appraisals and individual differences in sense of humor: Motivational and affective implications. Personality and Individual Differences, 19(3), 359-72.
Lynch, Owen H. (2009). Kitchen antics: The ımportance of humor and maintaining professionalism at work. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 37(4), 444- 464. Doi: 10.1080/00909880903233143.
Lyttle, J. (2007). The judicious use and management of humor in the workplace. Business Horizons, 50(6), 239-245.
Martin, R. A. (2003). Sense of humor. In S. J. Lopez & C. R. Snyder (Eds.), Positive psychological assessment: A handbook of models and measures (pp. 313-326). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Martin. R. A., Puhlik-Doris. P., Larsen. G., Gray. J., & Weir. K. (2003). Individual differences in uses of humor and their relation to psychological well-being: Development of the humor styles Questionnaire. Journal of Research in Personality, 37(1), 48-75.
Marziali, E., McDonald, L., & Donahue, P. (2008). The role of coping humor in the physical and mental health of older adults. Aging and Mental Health, 12(6), 713-718.
Mesmer-Magnus, J. & Glew, V. (2012). A meta-analysis of positive humor in the workplace. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 27(2), 155-190. Doi: 10.1108/026839412 11199554.
Mottaghinia, M. (2011). The relationship of Personal and collective self-efficacy of primary school teachers in Gonabad. (Master's Thesis), Birjand University.
Ojha, A. K., & Holmes, T. L. (2010). Don't tease me, I'm working: Examining humor in a Midwestern organization using ethnography of communication. The Qualitative Report, 15(2), 280-302. Retrieved from http://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr/vol15/iss2/4.
Okhuizen-Stier, L. (2008). Sense of humor, stress and coping and outcomes in children's lives. (Doctoral Dissertation), University of San Diego.
Priest, R. F. & Swain, J. E. (2002). Humor and its implications for leadership effectiveness. Humor, 15(2), 169-189.
Raggi, A., Leonardi, M., Mantegazza, R., Casale, S., & Fioravanti, G. (2010). Social support and self-efficacy inpatients with Myasthenia Gravis: A common pathway towards positive health outcomes. Neurol Sciences, 31(2), 231-235.
Rezaeian, A. (2009). Principles of organization and management. Tehran: Samt Pub. Romero, E. J. & Cruthirds, K.W. (2006). The use of humor in the workplace. Academy of Management Perspectives, 20(2), 58-69.
Romero, E. J. & Pescosolido, A. (2008). Humor and group effectiveness. Human Relations, 61(3), 395-418.
Rurkhamet, C. (2013). The influence of leader self-efficacy, emotional intelligence and sense of humor transformational leadership of the executive of state enterprises: the case of PTT, MEA & MWA. (Doctoral Dissertation), National Institute of Development Administration.
Schutte, N. S. (2014). The broaden and build process: Positive affect, ratio of positive to negative affect and general self-efficacy. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 9(1), 66- 74.
Seyed Nezhad Jelodar, S., Ahi, Jelodar, Z., & Shayan, N. (2001). Studying the relationship between the sense of humor and Public Health in students. Social and Behavioral Sciences, 20, 57-60.
Soltanoff, S. M. (1994). Choosing to be amusing: Assessing an individual's receptivity to therapeutic humor. Journal of Nursing Jocularity, 4(2), 34-35.
Okhuizen-Stier, L. (2008). Sense of humor, stress and coping and outcomes in children's lives. (Doctoral Dissertation), University of San Diego.
Priest, R. F. & Swain, J. E. (2002). Humor and its implications for leadership effectiveness. Humor, 15(2), 169-189.
Raggi, A., Leonardi, M., Mantegazza, R., Casale, S., & Fioravanti, G. (2010). Social support and self-efficacy inpatients with Myasthenia Gravis: A common pathway towards positive health outcomes. Neurol Sciences, 31(2), 231-235.
Rezaeian, A. (2009). Principles of organization and management. Tehran: Samt Pub. Romero, E. J. & Cruthirds, K.W. (2006). The use of humor in the workplace. Academy of Management Perspectives, 20(2), 58-69.
Romero, E. J. & Pescosolido, A. (2008). Humor and group effectiveness. Human Relations, 61(3), 395-418.
Rurkhamet, C. (2013). The influence of leader self-efficacy, emotional intelligence and sense of humor transformational leadership of the executive of state enterprises: the case of PTT, MEA & MWA. (Doctoral Dissertation), National Institute of Development Administration.
Schutte, N. S. (2014). The broaden and build process: Positive affect, ratio of positive to negative affect and general self-efficacy. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 9(1), 66- 74.
Seyed Nezhad Jelodar, S., Ahi, Jelodar, Z., & Shayan, N. (2001). Studying the relationship between the sense of humor and Public Health in students. Social and Behavioral Sciences, 20, 57-60.
Soltanoff, S. M. (1994). Choosing to be amusing: Assessing an individual's receptivity to therapeutic humor. Journal of Nursing Jocularity, 4(2), 34-35.