Not All Claps and Cheers: Humor in Business and Society Relationships

Scholars from various disciplines have studied humor since antiquity. Yet, over the centuries, these researchers have also struggled to conceptualize a viable, well-accepted notion of humor. Beyond pleasure and amusement, people use humor for a variety of social functions. On the one hand, humor can cause others to like the humorous source more, attract regard, ease conversations, promote expression and the exchange of ideas, introduce new topics of discussion, or smooth interactions. On the other hand, in aggressive forms, humor can halt verbal interactions, modify the usual rules of conversation, communicate critiques, or contribute to the creation of subversive environments.

Not All Claps and Cheers: Humor in Business and Society Relationships is an original research anthology that considers different angles from which to address the use of humor by individuals, groups and business actors in their interactions within, around, and across organizations--that is, at the interfaces of business and society. Accordingly, the research anthology is organized in four sections--＂Humor, Business and Society,＂ ＂From Society to Business: Humor’s Use and Roles in Activist Movements,＂ ＂From Business to Society: Humor’s Use and Roles in Marketing, Corporate Communications, and Public Relations,＂ and ＂Society within Business: Humor’s Use and Roles in the Workplace and in Organizations.＂

This ground-breaking research anthology draws on material from marketing, communications, human resources and stakeholder theory to throw light on this poorly understood facet of human business behavior.

Dr. François Maon received his PhD in 2010 from Catholic University of Louvain (Louvain School of Management). After a visiting scholarship at the University of California, Berkeley, he now works as an Associate Professor at IESEG School of Management where he teaches strategy, business ethics, and corporate social responsibility. He is widely published in academic journals and books including Journal of Business Ethics and A Stakeholder Approach to Corporate Social Responsibility.

Dr. Adam Lindgreen is Professor of Marketing at Copenhagen Business School where he heads the Department of Marketing. Dr. Lindgreen received his PhD from Cranfield University. He has published in California Management Review, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Product and Innovation Management, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, and Journal of World Business, among others.

Dr. Joëlle Vanhamme is Professor at the Edhec Business School. Dr. Vanhamme received her PhD from the Catholic University of Louvain. She has been Assistant Professor at Rotterdam School of Management, Associate Professor at IESEG School of Management, and a Visiting Scholar with Delft University of Technology, Eindhoven University of Technology, Hull University’s Business School, Lincoln University, and the University of Auckland’s Business School. Her research has appeared in journals including Business Horizons, California Marketing Review, Industrial Marketing Management, and International Journal of Research in Marketing.

Dr. Robert J. Angell is a Lecturer and Associate Professor in Marketing Research at Cardiff University. After working as a research executive for the Ordnance Survey, he went on to participate in research projects in Beijing and New York. Dr. Angell previously worked as a lecturer at Plymouth University where he also earned his PhD in marketing and statistics. An accomplished consultant and educator, Dr. Angell is widely published in internationally recognized journals.

Dr. Juliet Memery is a Professor in Marketing at Bournemouth University and previously Associate Professor and Marketing & Entrepreneurship Group Leader at the University of Plymouth. Professor Memery received her PhD in consumer behavior and marketing from the University of Plymouth with a thesis that examined the role of ethical and social responsibility issues in food and grocery shopping decisions in the United Kingdom. Her research findings have been published in journals such as European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Business Research, and Journal of Marketing Management.