Assessing Gibb's Supportive and Defensive Communication Climate: An Examination of Measurement and Construct Validity

This project investigated the utility of Gibb's (1961 Gibb , J. ( 1961 ). Defensive communication . Journal of Communication , 11 , 141 – 148 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) theory of supportive and defensive communication as operationalized by Costigan and Schmeidler (1984 Costigan , J. L. , & Schmeidler , M. A. ( 1984 ). Exploring supportive and defensive communication climates . In J. W. Pfeiffer & L. D. Goodstein (Eds.) , The 1984 handbook for group facilitators (pp. 112 – 114 ). San Diego , CA : University Associates . [Google Scholar]) in their survey instrument. As part of a larger project, 202 randomly selected faculty members completed a survey assessing the supportive and defensive communication behaviors of their current department chair. These data were then examined to determine the internal reliability and consistency of the instrument, as well as underlying dimensional stability. The results of this analysis indicate the presence of significant multicollinearity and a 4-factor, rather than a 12-factor, solution as originally hypothesized by Gibb. The article concludes with suggestions for reconceptualizing and interpreting the communication climate construct as a function of two underlying dimensions, including one supportive and one defensive behavior focused on task and one supportive and one defensive behavior focused on interpersonal relationships.