INVESTIGATING THE ROLE OF POSITIVE SELF-CONCEPT IN MOTIVATING GOAL COMMUNICATION AND MORAL BEHAVIOUR

Abstract

The public phenomenon of individuals sharing about their moral aspirations has indicated a need to explore less virtuous motivations for moral behaviour. For instance, performing moral behaviour because one wants to feel good by being seen as a moral person. Firstly, this study aimed to test if the goal communication motive of positive self-concept served as a mediator for moral identity and moral behaviour. The supplementary objective was to provide support for the validity of the novel Goal-Sharing Motives Scale’s (G-SMS) conceptualised by Chia (2018) and L. Lim (2020), given the dearth of goal communication literature. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated a decent G-SMS factor structure and found good internal consistency for the subscales. Moreover, parallel mediation analysis showed that the symbolisation dimension of self-importance of moral identity positively predicted conspicuous virtue signalling and self-reported volunteerism. While significant indirect effects of positive self-concept motives positively predicted other-oriented conspicuous virtue signalling, significant indirect effects of positive self-concept motives negatively predicted volunteerism. Overall, results highlighted the importance of investigating alternative positive self-concept motivations behind moral behaviour and contributed towards laying the foundation for future goal communication research.