Supervisor–subordinate guanxi, face consciousness, and facades of conformity in post-90s subordinates: Absolute and relative perspectives

In the current era of diverse values, managers face the crucial task of facilitating employees’ adaption to their organization’s values. Previous studies have found that high-quality supervisor–subordinate guanxi (SSG) negatively influences subordinates’ facades of conformity. However, these studies did not compare the characteristics of employees born in the 1990s and later with those of other team members in examining SSG. On the basis of conservation of resources theory and social comparison theory, we found an inverted U-shaped relationship between SSG and facades of conformity among post-90s subordinates (N = 360), with subordinates’ face consciousness not playing a significant moderating role. In contrast, relative SSG negatively influenced subordinates’ facades of conformity and was weakened by the moderator of face consciousness. These results offer theoretical and practical implications for managers to re-examine the relationship of SSG and facades of conformity from absolute and relative perspectives.