Am I incompetent or just afraid? Competence and apprehension as predictors of intercultural willingness to communicate

Abstract

ABSTRACT Self-perceived intercultural communication competence and intercultural communication apprehension have been recognized as key factors affecting one’s intercultural willingness to communicate, but not much attention has been paid to their simultaneous effects. Through a cross-sectional survey of college students in the United States (N = 281), this study examined the predictive power of self-perceived intercultural communication competence and intercultural communication apprehension on intercultural willingness to communicate, as well as the possible mediating role of intercultural communication apprehension. We found that, after controlling for biological sex, both self-perceived intercultural communication competence and intercultural communication apprehension predicted intercultural willingness to communicate when examined concurrently, with intercultural communication apprehension mediating this relationship. Implications of these results are discussed.