Willingness to communicate: Antecedents & consequences

Willingness to communicate (WTC) is examined at the trait and state levels, which are viewed as complementary. Measures of trait WTC, extraversion, emotional stability, self‐esteem, communication apprehension, and competence were administered to 226 male and female university students. A structural equation model examined the hypothesized antecedents to WTC and revealed a good fit to the data. Seventy of the participants also volunteered for a communication laboratory. Trait WTC was related to volunteering for the lab portion of the study and state WTC was related to initiating a difficult communication task. Also, state perceived competence predicted both time and number of ideas on an easy speaking task; state anxiety predicted time and number of ideas on a difficult speaking task.