Abstract

According to prior research conducted in the United States, a culture characterized by individualism, intentionally hiding one’s success in interpersonal contexts tends to be perceived as stemming from paternalism and consequently has detrimental effects on interpersonal relationships (Roberts et al., 2021). The present study aimed to examine whether this negative impact of hiding success also occurs in Korea, a relationship-oriented society, and to extend previous findings by incorporating the cultural specificity of Korea. In Study 1 (N = 131), involving Korean university students, hiding success negatively affected interpersonal outcomes through perceived paternalism, and this negative effect of hiding success was stronger in close relationships than in distant ones. In Study 2 (N = 204), which also involved Korean university students, the model was expanded by including perceived violation of relational schema as an additional mediator, along with perceived paternalistic motives. Results indicated that when both mediators were included in the model, the mediating effect of perceived paternalism was no longer significant, whereas perceived violation of relational schema had a significant mediation effect. These findings suggest that, in the Korean interpersonal context, perceived violation of relational schema plays a central role. The significance of relational closeness and relational schema in Korean interpersonal dynamics and directions for future research are suggested.