THE CONCEPTUALIZATION AND MEASUREMENT OF INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION SATISFACTION

The development and testing of a measure of interpersonal communication satisfaction is reported. In the first stage, Likert-style items were constructed from two types of questionnaires, face-to-face interviews, and previous empirical and theoretical work in the satisfaction field. During the second stage, items were tested by applying them to ideally satisfying and dissatisfying conversations. The third stage consisted of further item analyses and factor analysis. The final stage generated reliability and validity information. The resulting 19-item, unidimensional inventory exhibited a high degree of reliability and validity when used to measure communication satisfaction with actual and recalled conversations with another perceived to be a friend, acquaintance, or stranger.