An examination of trait measures of interpersonal competence

Abstract

A model of interpersonal competence is presented consisting of three components: motivation, knowledge, and skill in interaction for both participants in a conversation. The model assumes that the additive combination of these components for both interactants will predict competent outcomes; specifically, communication satisfaction, perceived confirmation, and conversational appropriateness and effectiveness. A total of 496 subjects completed trait measures of these constructs before and after interaction in one of two dyadic situations: acquaintance and task. Results indicate that the context independent measures did not contribute theoretically meaningful amounts of variance to the model. However, the context‐specific measures of skill contributed substantial amounts of variance in all of the predictions. Findings support the conclusion that competence is a context‐specific phenomenon, and requires corresponding theoretical and empirical refinement.

Notes

Brian H. Spitzberg is Associate Professor in the Department of Speech Communication at San Diego State University, San Diego, CA.