WILLINGNESS TO COMMUNICATE AND ANNUAL INCOME

Summary.-This study examines the effect of willingness to communicate on annual income. 103 respondents with varied occupations and an average age of 55.3 yr. reported their \vlllingness to communicate in a variety of contexts. A one-way analysis of variance yielded a large, significant effect for w~llingness to communicate, which accounted for 27% of the variance in income. Respondents who were most willing to communicate had the highest income, while those who were least willing to communicate reported the lowest income. Previous research has suggested that the more a person communicates, the more that person is perceived as credible, interpersonally attractive, powerFul and a leader (Daly, McCroskey, & fichmond, 1976, 1977; Hayes & Meltzer, 1972; Hayes & Sievers, 1972). Since source credibility, leadership ability, interpersonal attractiveness, and powerfulness can be expected to be associated with higher income, the researchers hypothesized that significant differences in willingness to communicate would be found for individuals in various income groups. Specifically, the researchers hypothesized that individuals who were most willing to communicate would receive the highest annual income, and individuals who were least wihg to communicate would receive the lowest annual income. Mehod.-Respondents were randomly selected from a telephone directory for a mid-sized city in the north-central United States. Of the 600 questionnaires mailed to individuals, 103 were returned, resulting in a response rate of 17%. The sample consisted of 60 (58.3%) men and 43 (41.7%) women. Age ranged from 25 to 85 years, with an average age of 55.3 yr. Fifteen occupational groups were represented. The largest occupational groups were blue collar workers, managers, retirees, health care prohssionals, and engineers. The Willingness to Communicate Scale developed by McCroskey and Richmond (1987) was used to measure respondents' predisposiuon toward initiating or avoiding communication under conditions of free choice. The 12-item scale asks respondents to report directly on a O100% continuum their probability of initiating communication in four contexts (public speaking, meetings, group discussion, and interpersonal conversations) and with three types of receivers (strangers, acquaintances, and friends). Willingness to communicate ranged from 1.17% to 95.83%, with a mean score of 51.3% (SD=26.7). Alpha reliability in the present study was .93. Annual income was self-reported in one of six categories and ranged from less than $15.000 to more than $100.000. Results.-The hypothesis was tested using a one-way analysis of variance, with income group as the dependent variable and willingness to communicate as the independent variable. Preliminary analysis suggested that the data met all statistical assumptions required. Results indicated that the hypothesis was supported. Scores on the Whgness to Communicate Scale for respondents in the six income groups differed significandy (F5,,, = 6.84, p < ,001). As Table 1 indicates, respondents who were most w~lling to communicate reported the 'Address correspondence to Michael Z. Hackman, Chair; De artment of Communication, University of Color~do at Colorado Springs, Colorado Spriigs, Eolorado 80933-7150 or e-mail at (mhackn~an@~na~l .uccs.edu).