Humor in the sky: the use of affiliative and aggressive humor in cabin crews facing passenger misconduct

PurposeThe authors present a fist attempt to test the mediating role of humor in the relation between unruly passenger behavior and occupational stress in cabin crews.Design/methodology/approachThis study used an experience sampling design to investigate the relationship between a frequent job hassle in air service provision, namely unruly passenger behavior (UPB), and the stress experienced by flight attendants.FindingsThe results of multilevel analyses show that UPB is positively related to the use of aggressive humor and negatively related to the use of affiliative humor in cabin crews. Moreover, humor mediates the relationship between unruly passenger behavior and stress. In addition the results show that general self-efficacy as a personal resource buffers the association between passenger misconduct and the use of aggressive humor.Originality/valueThis study is among the first empirical attempts to explore the role of humor as a mediator between uncivil customer behavior and stress in air service employee.