When Do People Welcome Accountability, and How Does It Feel?

Accountability plays an important role in societies, yet individuals are often averse to embracing their own accountability. This raises questions about when people are more or less inclined to welcome accountability and what it feels like when they do. This study (N = 32,485 observations from N = 977 US adults) used the day reconstruction method to examine situational predictors of welcoming accountability within-persons and links between the disposition to welcome accountability and well-being, both between and within-persons. Although the results revealed various situational predictors, the strongest was the presence of other people. People who characteristically welcomed accountability tended to experience more pleasant emotion and meaningfulness and less unpleasant emotion. Similarly, when people welcomed accountability more than was typical for them, they tended to experience more pleasant emotion and meaningfulness, but also more unpleasant emotion. These findings offer important insights into how welcoming accountability manifests across situations and establishes its relationships with different aspects of well-being.