Face Values and Managerial Practice Preference in China

Abstract

Social face values are found to have influence on the willingness of sharing information within cultural contexts. Face values profoundly penetrate the whole Chinese society, reflecting a high collectivist and large power distance culture. In such culture, members stress greater mutual-face and other’s face than member in individualistic cultures, which express more self-face maintenance. Previous studies address the face issues from diverse disciplines. However, there is limited research on how face issues influence on managerial behavior in manager-subordinate relationships through an empirical examination. We explore the extent to which a manager’s superior face saving is related to their sharing information with subordinates and inviting their initiatives. The findings of the study indicate that superior face-saving is negatively associated with sharing information with subordinates