Relations between self-efficacy beliefs, self-presentation motives, personal task goals, and performance on endurance-based physical activity tasks

We conducted two studies with the aim of examining the relations between self-presentation motives and physical activity task performance. In study 1, prior to performing an endurance-based physical activity task, 133 undergraduate participants (Mage 1⁄4 20.89, SD 1⁄4 5.21) reported acquisitive-agentic and protective-agentic self-presentation motives alongside task self-efficacy, self-presentational efficacy, and their personal task goals. Using a different endurance-based physical activity task in study 2, we also assessed undergraduate participants' (n 1⁄4 150; Mage 1⁄4 20.23, SD 1⁄4 3.34) dispositional exercise-related self-presentation motivation alongside the variables measured in study 1. Bayesian path analyses revealed indirect relations between agentic self-presentation motives and task performance via participants' personal task goals. Findings also indicated that agentic self-presentation motives may act as intermediaries in indirect pathways linking efficacy beliefs and dispositional exercise-related self-presentation motivation to goal processes and task performance. The results contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between self-presentation motivation and task performance. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Self-presentation motivation refers to individuals' motivation to have others view them in a desired way. This motivation is thought to drive acts of impression construction (i.e., the behavior that individuals use to construct and convey a desired image to others; Leary & Kowalski, 1990), including behavior within group-based physical activity settings (Hausenblas, Brewer, & Van Raalte, 2004; Martin Ginis, Lindwall, & Prapavessis, 2007; Prapavessis, Grove, & Eklund, 2004). In line with this notion, Leary (1992) outlined a conceptual link between self-presentation motivation and task performance, contending that individuals will exert (relatively)more effort on a physical activity taskwhen they believe that this effort will create a desired image in the eyes of others. Our overarching aim in the present studies was to test this prediction. Researchers interested in studying self-presentational phenomena have largely relied on the Self-Presentation in Exercise Questionnaire (SPEQ; Conroy, Motl, & Hall, 2000) to assess the extent of individuals' exercise-related self-presentationmotivation. This measure assesses dispositional-level perceptions, inasmuch as individuals are oriented to consider their general level of selfpresentation motivation to be seen as an exerciser, rather than the extent of their self-presentation motivation at a given moment. Although individuals are generally consistent in the way they wish to present themselves (Leary & Batts Allen, 2011) and dispositional measures are useful in predicting individuals' typical day-to-day behavior (c.f., Paunonen & Ashton, 2001), researchers working in the physical activity domain have found that dispositional exerciserelated self-presentation motivation typically displays only smallto-moderate positive associations with measures of physical activity, such as exercise frequency (Brunet & Sabiston, 2011; Brunet, Sabiston, & Gaudreau, 2014; Conroy et al., 2000; Lindwall, 2005; Martin Ginis & Mack, 2012). Although the lack of strong relationship between self-presentation motivation and physical activity may appear to be somewhat discouraging for investigators, there are a number of reasons for the continued investigation of selfpresentation processes in exercise contexts. First, there may be merit in considering individuals' selfpresentational drive at a given point in time (i.e., a situational approach to the assessment of self-presentation motivation). Social psychologists have argued that considering situational as well as dispositional factors may promote a better understanding of why * Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (T.C. Howle), james. [email protected] (J.A. Dimmock), [email protected] (B. Jackson).