Communication climate as predictor of role conflict among subordinate staff of Salman bin Abdulaziz university

In the fast pace of world communication process, role conflict among employees becomes core concern of the higher officials. Thereby, the present study was an attempt to explore the contribution and relationship of supportive and defensive communication climate on role conflict among subordinate staff of Salman bin Abdulaziz University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The sample included in the study is 368 subordinate staff working in various departments of the university. Communication climate inventory developed by Gibb’s (1961) and role conflict scale by Rizzo, et al., (1970) was used to determine the experiences of subordinate staff. Pearson’s product-moment correlation and step wise multiple regression analysis were used. The findings of the present investigation revealed that (i) defensive communication climate and their facets were positively related with role conflict, (ii) total defensive communication climate and their two facets (superiority and control) were emerged most dominant predictors of role conflict, (iii) supportive communication climate and their facets were showed positive significant relationship with role conflict, and (iv) empathy emerged as one of the most important predictor of role conflict. The present investigation tempted to provide certain implication and suggestion to add value in the contemporary areas of knowledge.