HUMOUR AND JOB SATISFACTION AMONG ACADEMIC STAFF IN THE UNIVERSITY OF BENIN, BENIN CITY

The study examined workplace humor and employee job satisfaction among academic staff of the University of Benin, Benin City, Edo state, Nigeria. The study specifically sought to ascertain the extent to which workplace humor impacts on the level of job satisfaction among employees. The study adopted a survey research design with questionnaire as the research instrument tailored towards the study objectives. The study sampled 257 respondents randomly drawn from a population of 1,896 academic staff of the University of Benin. Data gathered for the study was analyzed using descriptive statistics and the linear regression model to ascertain the causal relationship between the variable via SPSS 28.0. Findings obtained from the analysis showed among other things, a low level of workplace humor, and a low level of job satisfaction among the respondents. The regression analysis showed a lack of significant relationship between workplace humor and job satisfaction among the staff. Hence, the study concluded that workplace humor, though vital in maintaining social relations among employees; is majorly focused on the informal aspects of work which do not impact on employees satisfaction, performance or productivity.