Table of Contents
Background:
Measurement of source credibility has been a concern of the Communication discipline for over 40 years. The first multidimensional measure appeared in the Communication literature in 1966 (McCroskey, J .C., Scales for the measurement of ethos, Speech Monographs, 33, 65-72) and provided scales measuring competence and trustworthiness. Many other studies were conducted over the next 30 years. This Source Credibility Measure is the most complete measure and includes scales for three dimensions: competence, trustworthiness, and goodwill/caring. These are measures of constructs which are parallel to those theorized by Aristotle in The Rhetoric.
Psychometrics:
The alpha reliabilities of these measures usually range between .80 and .94.The development of these measures employed oblique factor analyses which generated correlated dimensions. That is, the three measures represent unique constructs, but those constructs are intercorrelated, as suggested by Aristotle and found in many research studies. Earlier work had used orthogonal factor analyses which forces uncorrelated factors. Thus, the new measures are more consistent with general rhetorical\social influence theories as well as previous findings.
Instructions: On the scales below, indicate your feelings about your
manager (or, if not currently employed, your most recent
supervisor).Numbers 1 and 7 indicate a very strong feeling. Numbers 2 and
6 indicate a strong feeling. Numbers 3 and 5 indicate a fairly weak feeling.
Number 4 indicates you are undecided.
1) Intelligent 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Unintelligent
2) Untrained 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Trained
3) Cares about me 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Doesn’t care about me
4) Honest 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Dishonest
5) Has my interests at heart 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Doesn’t have my interests at
heart
6) Untrustworthy 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Trustworthy
7) Inexpert 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Expert
8) Self-centered 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Not self-centered
9) Concerned with me 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Not concerned with me
10) Honorable 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Dishonorable
11) Informed 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Uninformed
12) Moral 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Immoral
13) Incompetent 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Competent
14) Unethical 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Ethical
15) Insensitive 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Sensitive
16) Bright 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Stupid
17) Phony 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Genuine
18) Not understanding 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Understanding
SCORING:To compute your scores, add your scores for each item as
indicated below:
Recode BOLDED questions with the following format:
1=7
2=6
3=5
4=4
5=3
6=2
7=1
Competence Factor (1, 2, 7, 11, 13, and 16)__________
Caring/Goodwill Factor (3, 5, 8, 9, 15, and 18)__________
Trustworthiness Factor (4, 6, 10, 12, 14, and 17)__________
Key references:
McCroskey, J. C., & Teven, J. J. (1999).Goodwill: A reexamination of the construct and its measurement. Communication Monographs, 66, 90-103.