The association of perceived communication apprehension, shyness, and verbal aggression with perceptions of source credibility and affect in organizational and interpersonal contexts

Abstract

This is a report of two studies that examined the association of receivers' perceptions of sources' levels of several communication traits (shyness, communication apprehension, verbal aggressiveness) with the receivers' reported levels of affect for the source (general affect and/or liking) and the receivers' perceptions of the sources' credibility (competence, trustworthiness, goodwill). Study 1 examined employees’ perceptions of their supervisor's communication trait behaviors in the organizational context, while Study 2 examined the students' perceptions of their roommate's communication trait behaviors in an interpersonal context. As predicted on the basis of previous theory and research, both perceived communication apprehension and perceived verbal aggressiveness of the source were found to be substantially negatively correlated with credibility and affect and/or liking reported by the receiver. Contrary to our hypothesis, perceived behavioral shyness was not meaningfully associated with either credibility or affect. It is concluded that these results provide important information for distinguishing between the theoretical constructs of shyness and communication apprehension and theory in this area in general.