When do positive leader emotions spark employee innovation? The critical catalytic role of humor in transforming affect into meaningful action

Purpose Drawing on the Conservation of Resources (COR) theory, this study examines how leader-triggered positive emotion influences employee innovative work behavior (IWB) through work meaningfulness, and whether leader humor strengthens this indirect relationship. Design/methodology/approach Three-wave, multi-source data were collected from 349 matched employee–supervisor dyads in Indonesian organizations. Process macro moderated mediation analysis was employed. Findings Leader-triggered positive emotion enhances IWB via increased work meaningfulness. This indirect effect is stronger when leaders frequently use humor, as humor facilitates the conversion of affective resources into meaningful work. Originality/value This study advances affect-innovation research by identifying leader-triggered positive emotion as a novel antecedent of IWB, positioning work meaningfulness as the mediating mechanism and reconceptualizing leader humor as a contextual catalyst that amplifies resource gain spirals. Theoretically, it contributes a nuanced moderated mediation framework grounded in the COR theory, revealing that humor's amplifying effect is contingent upon congruent positive emotional signaling – a finding that extends the theoretical understanding of how leader-triggered positive emotion translates into innovation and offers practical guidance for leadership development.