This study replicates and extends three widely cited instructional communication research studies regarding instructor clarity, humor, immediacy, and students’ learning: Richmond, Gorham, and McCroskey (1987), Wanzer and Frymier (1999), and Chesebro and McCroskey (2001). Students across four diverse institutions of higher education (N = 1,109) completed survey measures. Replication results suggest that findings from the original studies (clarity, humor, immediacy, and student learning) persist, and extension results, exploring verbal immediacy and perceived immediacy, reveal statistically significant correlations with the original studies’ variables. However, results of the replication and extension reveal measurement validity uncertainties that require further investigation.

Leadership styles that promote upward and downward communication have been shown to foster a plethora of positive outcomes within the workplace, group collaborations, and team contexts. Similarly, supervisor-subordinate solidarity communication has been related to desirable workplace outcomes. The purpose of this study was to investigate leadership styles as related to solidarity communication. The authoritarian leadership style was associated with the lowest solidarity and consistently yielded the least job satisfaction and highest burnout in subordinates. Furthermore, subordinates with authoritarian leaders did not fit the supervisor-subordinate solidarity model. A more nuanced explanation of leadership communication as related to solidarity is discussed.

There is global concern regarding the increased prevalence of math anxiety among college students, which is credited for a decrease in analytical degree completion rates and lower self-confidence among students in their ability to complete analytical tasks in the real world. The present study identified that, as expected, displays of instructional immediacy related positively to student intrinsic motivation and negatively to student math anxiety in analytical reasoning courses. More importantly, the findings were consistent with a mediated model in which psychological response to immediacy mediated the relationships between instructional immediacy cues and the associated outputs. Implications for theory and instruction are discussed.

Electronic documentation systems have been widely implemented in the healthcare field. These systems have become a critical part of the nursing profession. This research examines how nurses’ general computer skills, training, and self-efficacy affect their perceptions of using these systems. A sample of 248 nurses was surveyed to examine their general computer skills, self-efficacy, and training in electronic documentation systems in nursing programs. We propose a model to investigate the extent to which nurses’ computer skills, self-efficacy, and training in electronic documentation influence perceptions of using electronic documentation systems in hospitals. The data supports a mediated model in which general computer skills, self-efficacy, and training influence perceived usefulness through perceived ease of use. The significance of these findings was confirmed through structural equation modeling. As the electronic documentation systems are customized for every organization, our findings suggest value in nurses receiving training to learn these specific systems in the workplace or during their internships. Doing so may improve patient outcomes by ensuring that nurses use the systems consistently and effectively.

Given the expanding globalized workforce, business educators continue to seek new ways to prepare students for intercultural encounters. Although immersion in other cultures is the optimal strategy, this method is not always feasible. As such, educators seek other mechanisms to simulate intercultural experiences. This study examines emotional intelligence as a predictor of intercultural communication apprehension among university students (N = 425). Results indicate that three of the emotional intelligence subscales predict intercultural communication apprehension: emotionality, sociability, and self-control. These results support the premise that emotional intelligence manages and/or reduces intercultural communication apprehension and therefore should be integrated in business curriculum.

This article contains two measurement development studies on writing apprehension. Study 1 reexamines the validity of the writing apprehension measure based on the finding from prior research that a second false factor was embedded. The findings from Study 1 support the validity of a reduced measure with 6 items versus the original 20-item measure. However, this shorter measure had poor reliability. Therefore, Study 2 sought to correct the reliability issue by updating the wording of items so it was applicable to broader platforms of writing. The final measure had excellent reliability and validity statistics.