The humor advantage: humorous bragging benefits job candidates and entrepreneurs
Author(s)
Pai, Jieun
Chou, Eileen
Halevy, Nir
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
From job candidates to entrepreneurs, people often face an inherent tension between the need to share personal accomplishments and the need to avoid appearing arrogant. We propose that humorbragging – incorporating self-enhancing humor into self-promoting communications – can
signal warmth and competence simultaneously, leading to instrumental benefits. Four studies explored humorbragging as a potential solution to the self-promotion paradox. Study 1
demonstrated that a humorbragging (vs. self-promoting) resume attracted more hiring interest from recruiters. Study 2 showed that perceived warmth and competence mediate the positive effect of humorbragging on hiring intentions. Study 3 found that humorbragging entrepreneurs
achieved greater success securing funding compared to entrepreneurs who used other kinds of humor. Finally, Studies 4a-4c established that the positive effect of humorbragging on hiring intentions is unique to self-enhancing humor. Overall, the current research establishes the instrumental benefits of humorbragging and explains why and when it functions as an effective impression management strategy.
signal warmth and competence simultaneously, leading to instrumental benefits. Four studies explored humorbragging as a potential solution to the self-promotion paradox. Study 1
demonstrated that a humorbragging (vs. self-promoting) resume attracted more hiring interest from recruiters. Study 2 showed that perceived warmth and competence mediate the positive effect of humorbragging on hiring intentions. Study 3 found that humorbragging entrepreneurs
achieved greater success securing funding compared to entrepreneurs who used other kinds of humor. Finally, Studies 4a-4c established that the positive effect of humorbragging on hiring intentions is unique to self-enhancing humor. Overall, the current research establishes the instrumental benefits of humorbragging and explains why and when it functions as an effective impression management strategy.
Date Issued
2025-08-01
Date Acceptance
2023-10-27
Citation
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 2025, 51 (8), pp.1330-1344
ISSN
0146-1672
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Start Page
1330
End Page
1344
Journal / Book Title
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
Volume
51
Issue
8
Copyright Statement
© 2023 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
Request permissions for this article.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
Request permissions for this article.
License URL
Identifier
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/01461672231214462
Subjects
humor
humorbragging
self-promotion
self-presentation
impression management
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2023-12-20