Fear and Competence in Japan and the U.S.: Fear of Negative Evaluation, Affect for Communication Channels, Channel Competence and Use of Computer Mediated Communication

Abstract

This cross-cultural investigation examines the relationship between fear of negative evaluation, affect for communication channels (i.e., email versus face-to-face), and self-reports of communication competence. Participants from both Japan (N = 296) and the United States (N = 325) responded to three scales: Fear of Negative Evaluation (Leary, M. R. (1983) Understanding social anxiety. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage), Affect for Communication Channels Scale (Kelly, L. & Keaten, J. A. (2007) Development of the Affect for Communication Channels Scale. Journal of Communication, 57, 349–365), and a measure of communication competence. Cross-cultural differences were discovered on reports of fear of negative evaluation, CMC use, and self-reported competence. The factors predicting channel usage in a difficult personal situation (e.g., competence and general email usage), however, were quite similar across Japanese and U.S. participants.