An Examination of the Role of Listening in Judgments of Communication Competence in Co-Workers

Listening has been reported to be an important component in judgments of communication competence in the workplace. To investigate the contributions of listening to judgments of competence, this study examined how organization members use listening and listening-related factors in judgments of communica tion competence across situations. The results support the notion that listening plays a central role in assessments of communication competence. Analysis reveals that listening accounts for approximately one-third of the characteristics perceivers use to evaluate communication competence in co-workers. Addition ally, the results suggest organization members differ in their use of listening in judgments of competence in several kinds of situations.