Supervisor-Subordinate Guanxi and Employee Silence

摘要: We examined the relationship between supervisor-subordinate guanxi (SSG) and employee silence (ES), and the moderating role of self-regulatory focus (SRF) works on such relationship. With both three dimensions of SSG (deference to supervisor, personal-life inclusion, and affective attachment) and two kinds of SRF (promotion and prevention focus) controlled by scenarios, the results from a survey of 230 part-time MPA program students in Mainland China indicated that (1) ES is positively related to deference to supervisor, affective attachment, and to a lesser extent, personal-life inclusion, and (2) the moderating effect of SRF is significant for the relationships between each dimension of SSG and ES, and specifically, there is less possibility for promotive subordinate to be silent than those with prevention focus in the workplace. The implications of our findings are discussed and suggestions made for future studies.