The role of humor usage on creativity, trust and performance in business relationships: An analysis of the salesperson-customer dyad

- Three sources of data were collected: 149 B2B salesperson-customer dyads and objective sales performance data.
- Salesperson humor usage positively influences creativity and customer trust.
- Creativity and customer trust mediates the influence of humor usage on objective sales performance.
- Trust influences word-of-mouth propensity, expectation of continuity and objective sales performance.
- The broader contribution is that humor usage is a key factor for enhancing creativity and developing strong relationships.

Using humor wisely is known to have many benefits in a work-related setting. Despite these potential benefits, there is limited research on this phenomenon in a business-to-business selling context. In light of this absence, the authors introduce a theoretical model explaining the role of humor usage in a salesperson-customer encounter. Specifically, the purpose of this paper is to examine the simultaneous influence of salesperson humor usage on creativity and customer trust, which in turn affect objective sales performance. Using 149 salesperson-customer dyads from a cross-industry survey, the results indicate that (1) salesperson humor usage positively influences salesperson creativity and customer trust, (2) which in turn mediates the influence of humor on objective sales performance. In addition, (3) customer trust also influences word-of-mouth propensity and expectation of relationship continuity. The article's broader contribution is that humor usage may be a fundamental human ability that is central for enhancing creativity and developing strong relationships in a business-to-business setting.