Students’ Attributions of Instructor Credibility as a Function of Students’ Expectations of Instructional Technology Use and Nonverbal Immediacy

Abstract

This study examined the interaction effect of nonverbal immediacy and expected instructional technology use on students’ initial reports of instructor credibility. Participants included 549 college students who were randomly assigned to one of eight scenarios depicting first-day class sessions across four levels of technology use and two levels of nonverbal immediacy. A 4×2 factorial MANOVA revealed a significant multivariate interaction effect for instructor credibility, as well as significant multivariate main effects for both expected technology use and nonverbal immediacy. Univariate procedures revealed that the interaction effect and both main effects were significant for all three dimensions of instructor credibility. Finally, planned cell comparisons revealed different trends among dimensions of credibility for highly immediate vs. nonimmediate instructors.

Keywords:

• Attributions
• Nonverbal Immediacy
• Instructional Technology
• Credibility

The authors wish to thank the Editor and two anonymous reviewers for their contributions.

Notes

This paper was presented to the Instructional Development Division at the National Communication Association's annual convention in Boston, MA.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Paul Schrodt

Paul Schrodt (PhD, University of Nebraska—Lincoln, 2003) is an Assistant Professor of Communication at the University of Kansas

Paul L. Witt

Paul L. Witt (PhD, University of North Texas, 2000) is an Assistant Professor of Communication Studies at Texas Christian University