Effect of humor usage by engineers at construction sites

The effect of humor on performance and attendance at work has been a subject of academic discussions for a long time. People with different personal attributes perceive humor differently. As a result, they use humor with different frequency and react to humor in different ways. Personal factors, such as age, academic background, professional experience, and psychological preferences, are considered to affect the frequency of use and response to humor usage. Fifty-seven site engineers and eighty-four foremen participated in a study designed to determine the frequency of humor usage by site engineers and the response to humor by foremen. Results show that the personal characteristics of engineers, the situation under which humor is used, and the attitudes of foremen toward humor usage are important in determining the efficacy of humor. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)0742-597X(2006)22:2(81) CE Database subject headings: Construction industry; Personnel management; Employees.