The Influence of Humor Styles on Negotiation Competence among Management Students
Keywords:
humor styles, negotiation competence, self-enhancing humor, aggressive humor, business studentsAbstract
This study aimed to 1) examine the levels of humor styles and negotiation competence; 2) compare humor styles by gender; 3) investigate the relationships between humor styles and negotiation competence; and 4) examine the influence of humor styles on negotiation competence among management students at the Faculty of Business Administration, Rajamangala University of Technology Phra Nakhon. The sample consisted of 185 management students from a population of 333 students. Data were collected using an online questionnaire consisting of a 32-item Humor Styles Questionnaire and a 16-item negotiation competence scale. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Welch’s t-test, Pearson’s correlation, and multiple regression analysis. The findings revealed that affiliative humor was the most prevalent humor style, while negotiation preparation was the most prominent dimension of negotiation competence. Gender comparison showed that male students reported significantly higher levels of aggressive humor (t = 2.657, p = .009) and self-defeating humor (t = 2.512, p = .014) than female students. Correlation analysis indicated that self-enhancing humor was positively associated with negotiation competence (r = .315, p < .001), whereas aggressive humor was negatively associated with negotiation competence (r = −.171, p = .020). Multiple regression analysis indicated that the model was statistically significant (R² = .136, F(4, 180) = 7.10, p < .001). Self-enhancing humor positively influenced negotiation competence (B = 0.300, p < .001), while aggressive humor negatively influenced negotiation competence (B = −0.155, p = .046). These findings suggest that humor does not uniformly influence negotiation competence; rather, its effect depends on the type of humor style used.
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