Face is typically believed to lead individuals to pull back, broadly speaking. We challenge this view. Focusing on newcomers and building on conservation of resources (COR) theory, role theory, and the literature on face and commitment, we suggest that face logic endorsement can, depending on its level, lead newcomers to engage with their role as organizational members and seek to understand the implications of face more broadly. In our examination of these ideas, we introduce the notion of commitment to becoming organizational insiders (CBOI) as a new commitment construct. Specifically, we propose the existence of a U-shaped relationship between face logic endorsement and newcomers’ CBOI, such that low-to-moderate levels of face logic endorsement reduce CBOI, whereas very high levels of face logic endorsement increase CBOI. Moreover, we propose a positive relationship between face logic endorsement and voluntary turnover, which is partly mediated by newcomers’ CBOI. Finally, we suggest that newcomers’ felt accountability moderates the negative relationship between CBOI and turnover as well as the positive indirect relationship between face logic endorsement and turnover, such that these relationships are stronger at higher levels of felt accountability. The results of two studies support our hypotheses. Implications and future research directions are discussed.
