26. The dark underbelly of communication competence: How something good can be bad?

Abstract

This chapter traces the histories of two concepts dark interpersonal communication and communication competence before addressing the interconnected construct, the dark side of communication competence. It is argued that incompetence and darkness are not always synonyms; nor are competence and darkness necessarily always on opposite ends of a continuum. Instead the chapter discusses how competence may align with darkness in very insidious, harmful, but purposeful ways. Dimensions of dark competence are presented that help differentiate dark competence from its kin, dark communication and communication competence, providing the concept with its own theoretical space. The dark underbelly of communication competence not only furthers the theoretical and practical understanding of interpersonal communication skills and dark side scholarship, but also better captures the full essence of what it means to be a skilled communicator. A socio-ecological framework is used as a heuristic tool to approach how dark competence may be holistically examined. The framework helps draws the chapter to a close as future research ideas are proposed.