Communication · Executive Insight Brief · 502
Credibility can fail in three places
Receiver ratings locate different credibility perceptions so communication leaders can investigate the right source-audience problem without treating perception as fact.
Premise
The Measure of Source Credibility developed by James C. McCroskey and Jason J. Teven separates a credibility judgment into competence, trustworthiness, and goodwill or caring. That distinction matters because audiences can see a source as technically capable yet untrustworthy, believable yet indifferent to their interests, or caring yet insufficiently expert. For executives, the instrument can locate the credibility dimension shaping a communication problem before an intervention is selected. It measures receiver perceptions of a specified source at a particular time; it does not establish the source’s actual expertise, honesty, intentions, or message accuracy.
What the model is: Measure of Source Credibility in Knowledge →
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- The essential model
- Why this matters
- Risks and limits
- Executive takeaway
- Key questions
- Selected sources
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- FamilyTool
- CategoryMeasurement & Assessment Instruments
- DomainPersuasion & Argument
What these mean
Editorial orientation · Family
Tool
In this series, Tool names the editorial family primarily used to act on, examine, measure or organize communication. It includes instruments, methods, practices, protocols, codes and institutional arrangements. Membership does not certify effectiveness, portability or safe use in every setting.
Editorial orientation · Category
Measurement & Assessment Instruments
Produces measures, scores, profiles or assessments through defined items, observations or measurement rules. The entry identifies what is measured and the conditions governing interpretation.
- KnowledgeMeasure of Source Credibility
- Related briefThe Yale Persuasion Program: Test the Influence Pathway