Committing under the shadow of tomorrow: Self-control and commitment to future virtuous behaviors

Individuals acknowledge the importance of engaging in virtuous behaviors, but find them difficult. Past research suggests that a distant-future focus may result in more commitment. This research demonstrates that, for certain consumers, distant-future execution timing may discourage commitment. Specifically, whereas low self-control consumers are indeed more likely to commit to distant-future behaviors, high self-control consumers are more likely to commit to near-future behaviors. This is demonstrated when commitment does not hold a cost (study 1), but also when it does (study 2). Consumers' time availability certainty underlies the effect: Low self-control consumers feel more certain that in the distant future they will be able to identify the time necessary to fulfill their commitments, whereas high self-control consumers feel more certain regarding their ability to identify their available time in the near future (studies 3a-3b). The effect is shown to occur only when the commitment's time of execution reflects different levels of time concreteness: The effect is eliminated among consumers who perceive the near and distant future as equally concrete or abstract (study 4).