Goodwill: A reexamination of the construct and its measurement

As a result of the controversy over the dimensionality of the ethos/source credibility construct and the associated plethora of empirical studies in the 1960s and 1970s, Aristotle's dimension of “goodwill” has been dismissed by many contemporary theorists and researchers. It is argued that this occurred as a result of errors made in the earlier empirical research and that “goodwill” can be measured, contrary to earlier claims, and should be restored to its former status in rhetorical communication theory. Empirical research is reported indicating the existence of the goodwill dimension as part of the structure of the ethos/source credibility construct and a measure of that dimension is provided with evidence for its reliability and validity.