Based on social identity theory and self-categorization theory, this study examine the antecedents of relative deprivation, which refers to psychological distress among host country managers working at multinational corporation (MNC) subsidiaries in Korea. For this purpose, we hypothesize that the parent country development level and cultural distance between the headquarters and the local country, representing the headquarters and local country characteristics, and the headquarters' decision-making authority and organizational staffing policies over the subsidiary, representing the headquarters-subsidiary relationship characteristics, have an impact on the relative deprivation of host country managers. To test these hypotheses, this study conducted regression analyses based on survey data from 643 host country managers working in 60 MNC subsidiaries in Korea from 11 countries. Results of the analysis is follows. First, the higher parent country development level and the greater cultural distance were associated with higher level of relative deprivation. Second, the more decision-making authority of headquarters and the ethnocentric staffing policy over the subsidiary were associated with higher level of relative deprivation. This study has academic implications by identifying the antecedents of MNC subsidiary managers' relative deprivation, and practical implications by providing MNC practitioners with useful information on how to manage MNC subsidiary managers' relative deprivation.