Abstract
Separate effects of received and exerted interpersonal influence on individuals' persistence in voluntary behaviors were examined. Eighty male subjects, four at a time, participated in the study as their one-day paid work. Pairs of subjects observed five tourist sites from the windows of a train and evaluated them through discussion. Exerted and received influence was measured in terms of changes in preferences for these sites before and after interactions with a partner. Persistence was measured by whether and how long subjects pursued a voluntary task up to two weeks after the day of work. Results indicated that received and exerted influence, which were not significantly correlated with each other, can predict the persistence. Furthermore, combined influence (i. e., the total amount of these two types of influence) was shown to be the strongest predictive variable for persistence. Implications for strengthening persistence through group settings are discussed.
