Laughing it off: How does leader humor alleviate employees’ compassion fatigue in service failure?

Abstract

Compassion fatigue, which results from empathy, is associated with many negative consequences. However, limited attention has been devoted to the compassion fatigue of employees in the tourism and hospitality sector, particularly within the context of service failures. To mitigate the potential negative impact of compassion fatigue on employees, this research reveals how leader humor alleviates employees’ compassion fatigue via three scenario-based experiments. Findings show that leader humor affects employees’ compassion fatigue through the mediating effect of perceived organizational support. Additionally, this research uncovers the moderating roles of leader hypocrisy and power distance beliefs. Results expand the literature on compassion fatigue and leader humor. This study also offers suggestions to guide tourism and hospitality organizations in using leader humor wisely to minimize employees’ compassion fatigue, particularly among staff with low power distance beliefs and in cases of low leader hypocrisy.