GOING PUBLIC: THE ROLE OF PRIVATE SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS IN MAKING PUBLIC COMMITMENTS

Abstract

There are various motives for why individuals choose to communicate their goals to others, such as the motive of public commitment, which refers to the act of publicly sharing one’s goals to boost motivation. Public commitment is often acknowledged as beneficial for goal pursuit and research has suggested individuals tend to publicly commit to those whom they are close to. However, little is known about the characteristics that may predict why some choose to make public commitments compared to others. As past research has suggested that private self-consciousness is key for goal-directed behaviour, this study proposed that the motive of public commitment would mediate the relationship between private self-consciousness and frequency of goal communication with close ones. Analyses (n = 457) showed that the mediation model was not supported, with private self-consciousness failing to significantly predict motive of public commitment. The results suggested that the relationship between private self-consciousness and motive of public commitment may be more nuanced than initially theorised. Implications and future directions are discussed.