ENDCORE: A Hierarchical Structure Theory of Communication Skills

Abstract

We attempted to integrate various factors of communication skills into a hierarchical structure model. By classification, we found six categories of factors: Expressivity, Assertiveness, Decipherer ability, Other Ac- ceptance, Self control, and Regulation of Interpersonal Relationship, from various existing scales. We hy- pothesized that the six factors were located at the basic or interpersonal level, and could be combined to form higher-level factors of three: the encode, decode, and management systems, respectively. Thus, we pro- posed ENDCORE theory to integrate various factors of communication skills into a hierarchical structure. College students, 233 in all, participated in the study, and complated a number of scales. Results indicated high utility of the hierarchical structure model, and we have developed ENDCOREs, a scale of 24 items to measure four sub-skills each for the six main-skill factors. Key