Communicator Style and Social Style

Abstract

The purpose of this empirical study was to examine the interface between two key models of communication style: social style and communicator style. Social style is based on a two-by-two matrix composed of two dimensions of observable patterns of behavior: assertiveness and emotiveness. Communicator style was established in the communication discipline and involves nine factors and one global assessment of communicator image. The current study measured self-assessments of social style and communicator style by 852 individuals to test the theoretical interface of the models. Factor analysis confirmed the social style dimensions and some of the communicator style dimensions. The resulting components were factored, resulting in four dimensions of transactional style: emotive, assertive, relaxed, and accurate. Regression results indicate three of the dimensions are predictive of communicator self-image and explain nearly 36% of the variance.