Abstract : This study examines a central question for organizational behavior in Chinese contexts: which cultural belief better explains what people value at work, Fate orientation or Face concern (personal reputation). We propose a culturally grounded framework that integrates these indigenous constructs with mainstream research on work values and personality, and test their unique associations with four work values categories (Intrinsic, Extrinsic, Social, Prestige) in a sample of 621 working professionals across diverse industries. Using validated measures and hierarchical models that control for demographics and the Big Five personality traits, we find a clear asymmetry: Face is broadly and positively associated with all four work values categories beyond traits and controls, whereas Fate shows minimal associations once these variables are considered. The pattern points to a contemporary shift away from fatalistic resignation toward personal agency, while reputation, recognition, and relational harmony remain enduring motivations. The paper contributes in three ways. First, it offers a head-to-head cultural test that identifies which belief meaningfully improves explanation of work values. Second, it demonstrates the value of incorporating indigenous organizational behavior constructs into core motivation models, yielding culturally faithful insights that universal accounts often miss. Third, it provides a portable research template that can be replicated across settings and extended with additional indigenous indicators, encouraging a more culturally inclusive agenda for theory and practice in work motivation. Quantitatively, Face concern positively predicted Intrinsic (β = 0.163***), Extrinsic (β = 0.174***), Social (β = 0.280***), and Prestige (β = 0.201***) work values; adding the Fate/Face block increased adjusted R2 by approximately 2–6 percentage points across models, whereas Fate showed minimal effects.

Keyword : Face concern, Fate orientation, indigenous organizational behavior, work values.