Date of Award

August 2019

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Communication

First Advisor

Sang-Yeon Kim

Committee Members

Sarah R Riforgiate, Erin M Parcell

Keywords

co-owned private information, self-disclosure, workplace

Abstract

Individuals self-disclose (SD) private information to increase intimacy, build trust, and to give or receive social support. When private information is self-disclosed and shared between two people, it is co-owned. For individuals in romantic relationships their private information and co-owned private relationship information (COPRI) is shared in displaced contexts. One context in which such disclosures can be studied is the workplace, where differences in these two types of disclosures can be compared. A sample of 308 individuals was surveyed to compare differences between SDs and disclosures of COPRI in relation to comfort disclosing, disclosure frequency, motivations for disclosing. Additionally, comparisons between the SD and disclosure of COPRI topics were compared as they associated with work satisfaction. Findings suggest that individuals consider a greater number of private information categories when self-disclosing than when disclosing COPRI. Motivations for making SDs and disclosures of COPRI were similar overall but deviated slightly by topic. Overall, private topics relating to positive aspects of work and the disclosures of personal views and opinions were associated greater with work satisfaction. Future research could explore additional contexts to compare SDs and disclosures of COPRI.

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