The Relationship Between Public Commitment and Self- Persuasion: A Case of Daystar University's Code of Conduct

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between a written form of public commitment and self-persuasion. This was done by using the qualitative and descriptive analysis of data collected from the undergraduate students through focus group discussions, and from the staff through in-depth interviews about the signing of Daystar University's code of conduct. The study found a weak relationship between a written form of public commit- ment and self-persuasion. Simply adding the signature to a pre-recorded commit- ment document did not persuade most of the people concerned to stick to their pledge. Specifically, signing the code of conduct of Daystar University did not necessarily lead the students to abide by it. The study confirmed the assumptions made by dissonance theorists that for dissonance to occur the people must attribute to themselves the responsibility for the action they have undertaken. If they are signing a public commitment document, they must feel that their choice was not motivated by external forces. According to the research subjects, presenting the code of conduct as a condition for admission acted as external pressure, and was understood as enough justifica- tion for signing it rather than internal agreement with its content. Therefore, for the majority of the student, the signing of the code of conduct became pure image management. On the other hand, a number of factors were cited as being the causes of its apparent failure in achieving the behaviour change or maintaining the corporate behaviour in the community. Such factors included signing simply in exchange for admission, the environmental influence (e.g. peer pressure, role models), laxity in enforcement of the code and lack or weakness of programmes designed for promoting the code. This study may be helpful for the institutions and individuals that use the sign- ing of a document as a means of behaviour control. It may also prompt communi- cation scholars to consider a similar study for other findings of dissonance theory, or any other theory that is used in communication.