What Is Credibility?

Most people use the term credibility to refer to an audience's perceptions of the communicator. Let's take a look at five factors that affect credibility. The most obvious kind of credibility in business is based on position or rank. Imagine you heard someone in your company say, we are going to paint all the walls in this building with purple and orange strips. You will probably find that statement more credible if you heard it from the president than if you heard it from the junior. Credibility by virtue of rank, which is related to what some theorists call the audience's perceived dependency or the communicator reward or power is important. But remember that even if you are not immediately promoted to company president you can gain credibility in other ways.

For instance another aspect of credibility is the audience's sense of communicator's goodwill. People will tend to listen on you or read what you write more favorably and believe you if you have. Another very important source of credibility is the audience's sense of the communicator's expertise. Imagine talking to the person sitting next to you on an airplane about the aircraft. How would your opinion of what that person had to say change if you found out he or she were vice-president of the airplane.