Consumers' engagement with social media activation campaigns: Construct conceptualization and scale development

This study conceptualizes the consumers' engagement with social media activation campaigns, which are important tools in improving the interactions between brands and consumers. We offer a comprehensive definition of this construct and discuss the nature and dimensionality of it. Further, this paper reports the development and validation of a 12‐item scale for measuring the aforementioned construct. This scale development process comprises four studies. Study 1 begins by generating a pool of items and then employs both a panel of experts and some Instagram users to examine the content validity of the items. To validate the scale, this paper carries out several online surveys in subsequent studies. Study 2 uses exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to remove the problematic items and evaluate the dimensionality of the construct. In Study 3, we conduct iterative CFAs to purify the scale and reassess the psychometric properties of the scale. Study 4 uses structural equation modeling to test the nomological validity. Our analyses reveal that consumers' engagement with social media activation campaigns is a second‐order construct encompassing three first‐order dimensions (cognitive, emotional, and behavioral engagement). The results also support the reliability, content validity, convergent validity, discriminant validity, known group validity, and nomological validity of the engagement scale.     

Cross-cultural reliability and validity of a scale to measure firm entrepreneurial orientation

This study presents a foreign language version of a popular scale for measuring entrepreneurship and tests the instrument's utility in cross-cultural settings as a means of validating it for use abroad. Entrepreneurship refers to the pursuit of creative or novel solutions to challenges confronting the firm, including the development or enhancement of products and services, as well as new administrative techniques and technologies for performing organizational functions. Entrepreneurship is a fundamental posture, instrumentally important to strategic innovation, particularly under shifting conditions in the firm's external environment, and is applicable to any firm, regardless of its size and type. Scholars note that entrepreneurial activity is critical because it stimulates superior performance and may well be the key fundamental element in the procurement of advantages relative to competitors.Researchers have developed a popular scale for measuring entrepreneurship at the firm level, which has been found to be highly valid and reliable. This scale (the “ENTRESCALE”) examines eight items reflecting the innovative and proactive disposition of management at a given firm. However, as the ENTRESCALE's measurement properties have never been comprehensively assessed in a cross-cultural setting, the instrument lacks strong evidence of international validity and reliability. Accordingly, the cross-cultural correspondence between the ENTRESCALE and the construct it is supposed to measure is unknown, as is the extent of its utility to international practitioners. This situation reflects a problem common to measuring instruments developed in the United States and is particularly troublesome for scales intended to measure foreign phenomena of interest in international business. The researcher who assumes that a scale developed at home will function with equal efficacy abroad is most likely asking for trouble. There is a risk that such assumptions will lead to invalid inferences, an outcome potentially disastrous for the practitioner seeking to design appropriate strategies for international success.Sound measures of entrepreneurship are especially critical for managers attempting to understand the construct's cultural dynamic, at both the organizational and country levels, within subsidiaries, agencies, and other such entities presently representing or offering to represent the firm's interests abroad. By understanding the entrepreneurial dynamic in foreign settings, the multinational firm may be able to structure operations in ways that better suit existing local conditions and thereby avoid potentially adverse consequences. Further, it is useful to discern, by means of national studies, the entrepreneurial characteristics of management at firms, including existing or potential competitors, across entire countries.As a means of addressing this issue, this study seeks to test the measurement properties of the ENTRESCALE using samples of English- and French-speaking managers. Results indicate that the scale performs well in terms of both reliability and validity and possesses a unique factor structure. In concrete terms, this implies that the ENTRESCALE is suitable for measuring the entrepreneurship construct abroad. It is hoped that these results will: (1) contribute to improving future research endeavors of scholars studying the role of entrepreneurship in the increasingly global environment of business; (2) provide practitioners with a scale that can be used to measure the extent of entrepreneurial orientation among main operations, subsidiaries, and (potential) partner firms in foreign lands; and (3) raise the standard by which measuring instruments are designed and used for research in cross-cultural contexts.     

Employees' Company Reputation-related Social Media Competence: Scale Development and Validation

Cases in which employees' uses of social media harm their company's reputation highlight the need for a measure to evaluate employees' company reputation-related social media competence (RSMC). Drawing on reputation and human capital theory and data from four occupationally diverse samples of employees, this study develops and validates a new, multidimensional measure of RSMC, or an employee's ability to use social media without causing harm to the employer's reputation. Exploratory factor analyses, first- and second-order confirmatory factor analyses, and structural equation modeling all provide strong evidence of the convergent, discriminant, known-group, and nomological validities of the proposed RSMC scale. The higher-order RSMC construct also relates to job demands and resources and to two behavioral outcomes: bad mouthing and positive word of mouth. The RSMC scale also exhibits test–retest reliability and ecological validity. Thus, the new scale offers both research directions and managerial implications.     

Formative vs. reflective measures: Facets of variation

Research that treats observed measures of a business construct as a function of a latent true score plus random error is making two strong assumptions. The first, the assumed direction of causality, has generated the burgeoning formative measurement literature to which Cadogan and Lee (2013) contribute. The second is overlooked. Classical test theory assumes there is only one legitimate source of variance. Academics validating measures of business constructs invariably assume that this source is their respondents, who can be managers, employees, or customers, depending on the context (i.e. business discipline). The invoked causality accounts for covariance at the respondent level, ignoring whether it also applies to other sources of variance—such facets as brands, companies, departments, locations, service providers or work groups. Researchers need to be clear about a business construct's conceptual domain, about the sources of variance that are focal to the theoretical relationships being investigated, and whether the construct's relationship with its indicators is formative or reflective for each facet.     

Fear Of Missing Out Scale: A self-concept perspective

Fear of missing out (FOMO) is an emerging topic in consumer psychology. However, the theoretical foundations of FOMO are underdeveloped and extant FOMO scales confine the construct to the context of social media. Without a theoretical foundation and a new FOMO scale, the future development of research on this promising phenomenon is limited. This article provides a new conceptualization of FOMO and a new FOMO scale. Using self-concept theory, the authors propose that FOMO is an emotional response to perceived psychological threats to one's self-concept. Because the self-concept involves a private and a public self, FOMO involves two dimensions: a personal FOMO and a social FOMO. Accordingly, a new scale was developed. The results of four studies support the validity and reliability of the two-dimensional scale. This new conceptualization and scale will enable consumer researchers to examine FOMO in a broader set of contexts, test the relationship between FOMO and related constructs, and develop a nomological network around the construct.     

Measuring user perceived service quality of online auction sites

This study proposes a measure for online auction sites' service quality (OA-SQ). The conceptualisation is based on a literature review of service quality research and an analysis of the unique characteristics of online auctions. A pilot study refined the initial scale. A second survey data set tests the final scale. Results of both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis show high construct validity of the scale. The scale includes 24 items for seven dimensions: efficiency, system availability, privacy/security, compensation, personalisation, playfulness, and reputation.     

A Test of Consumer Awareness for Adults

The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument to measure adult awareness of consumer product/service information sources, consumer protection laws and channels of recourse. The process included identification of prevalent consumer problems, development of test items based on the identified problems, and assessments of the content validity and the reliability of the instrument. The process of construct validity was initiated by developing and testing hypotheses concerning the relationships between scores on the instrument and selected socio-economic characteristics of consumers. Low consumer awareness scores were predominant, supporting the need for consumer education for adults.     

The NEP Scale: A measure of network export performance

The interdependence between varying participants in exporting networks that has resulted from processes of globalization magnifies the inadequacies of using single-item measures and internally oriented perspectives to assess export performance. In order to overcome these concerns, we developed a network export performance (NEP) scale using as a basis network theory, a diversity of network-oriented indicators and different types of respondents. The final multi-dimensional NEP Scale includes 25 items grouped into five dimensions: (a) overall export venture performance, (b) relationship performance with the importer versus competitors, (c) relationship performance with the supplier, (d) product quality performance of the supplier, and (e) importer's satisfaction with the quality of the supplied product. Findings reveal that the flow of communication and interaction within exporting networks is positively and significantly associated with all of the five dimensions of the NEP Scale. Discussion centers on implications of this scale to network theory, international business, and to the managerial development of exporting strategies. The article closes with directions for future research.     

What constitutes a “good assortment”? A scale for measuring consumers' perceptions of an assortment offered in a grocery category

This research investigates how consumers form subjective judgments of what constitutes “a good grocery assortment”. By conducting three exploratory focus groups and a field study, we develop a multi-item scale that reflects consumers' cue utilization processes in forming perceptions of a grocery assortment. Our findings suggest that consumers use only a limited number of informational cues to form perceptions about four higher-level assortment dimensions: (1) the assortment's pricing, (2) its quality, (3) its variety, and (4) its presentation. In line with the attitude theory, we found that consumers integrate these higher-level assortment dimensions into a summary evaluation of the grocery category's attractiveness. Accordingly, we derive the grocery assortment perception (GAP) scale as a second-order construct composed of four first-order factors. Significant positive relationships between the GAP scale and customer satisfaction as well as loyalty intentions provide empirical support for the scale's predictive ability and nomological validity. In the last section of this article, we discuss how the GAP scale will support category managers in their assortment decisions and provide directions for further research.     

Fairness quality: a conceptual model and multiple-item scale for assessing firms’ fairness – an exploratory study

Abstract

Scholars suggest that fairness is a precursor to ethical firm behaviour. Existing research suggests that (1) commonly used single-item fairness measures lack reliability and validity, and (2) single-item scales do not contribute to understanding fairness as a multidimensional concept. Using the means-end framework, we develop a measure of fairness quality (FQ) of service experience. We conceptualise, construct, refine and test the FQ scale over multiple stages of data collection. Using the soft-laddering interviewing technique, we initially explore FQ attributes. Subsequently, we design and conduct two surveys to test the FQ measure. The final scale contains 18 items in four dimensions: transparency, associations, moderations and process. The FQ scale demonstrates good psychometric properties, passing all reliability and validity tests. The scale extends existing research on fairness and provides a new conceptualisation of FQ. Marketers are encouraged to manage their FQ systematically to stimulate social and ethical behaviour. We present theoretical and managerial implications, with future research directions.     

An item response theory approach to constructing and evaluating brief and in-depth financial literacy scales

We applied item response theory (IRT) to construct and evaluate new brief and in-depth financial literacy scales. A survey of a UK adult sample (N = 589) included 50 questions to assess knowledge about managing financial resources and competence in using personal finance-related information—including five widely used items, on interest rates, inflation, investment diversification, mortgages and bonds. IRT applied to a scale of these items identified some limitations, overcome via further iterations to construct a new brief scale with sound psychometric properties. IRT was then applied iteratively to our pool, resulting in an in-depth, 20-item scale, also psychometrically sound, covering four broad financial domains: everyday money transactions; the concept of money; borrowing; and saving and investment. Parallel 10-item sub-scales were also evaluated. The validity of the new scales was demonstrated by regression analyses which found that, controlling for demographic variables, financial literacy predicted key indicators of financial well-being.     

An Alternative Approach to the Measurement of Emotional Attachment

Emotional attachment (EA)—the emotional bond connecting an individual with a specific target—has been identified as an important construct within the marketing domain. Despite all the research, there is no consensus on how the construct should be measured. A major factor contributing to this confusion is that current definitions and, consequently, scales of EA focus on describing reactions toward specific referents of attachment rather than on capturing the extent of emotion an individual feels; hence, hindering construct validity. In this article, the authors scrutinized the concept validity of EA. After defining the construct, scale development procedures were followed to propose an alternative one‐dimensional scale that reflects the abstract nature of EA. Three studies support the scale's reliability as well as the discriminant, convergent, criterion, and nomological validity of the measure. The studies tested the scale under different marketing contexts. Moreover, by employing the new measure, the findings showed that EA and self‐concept maintenance (SCM) are related, yet different constructs. Specifically, the results showed that these constructs interact to predict willingness to pay (WTP) for a brand such that when SCM is low, WTP is predicted by EA. However, when self‐concept is high, the effect of EA on WTP is not that strong. This new scale will help researchers extend research on EA to a broader set of contexts, explore the relationship between EA and related constructs, develop nomological networks, and prevent the confounding of terms.     

Employee Motivation to Co-Create Value (EMCCV): Construction and Validation of Scale

Value Co-Creation (VCC) is an emerging concept that has vast applications in theory and practice. Though previous research has provided enough insights on the customers' role in VCC, relatively less research exists on employee motivation to co-create value (EMCCV) with customers. Among other reasons for such less empirical investigations, one is the unavailability of measurement scale for EMCCV. Therefore, the drive of this study is to conceptualize, develop, and validate a scale to measure EMCCV. Drawing from the expectancy theory and adapting the standard scale development procedure, this study develops EMCCV as a higher-order construct that constitutes four dimensions namely professional identity, financial motives, recognition motives, and career opportunities motives measured by 17 items. The measurement scale is developed in the context of automotive service centers; however, it has a broader application on the frontliners of all service industries and can be adapted in other service-oriented contexts. The scale is tested in a theoretical framework and has provided sound reliability, convergent, discriminant, and nomological validity.     

Toward a new measure of organizational environmental citizenship behavior

Previous work has conceptualized workplace pro-environmental behaviors within the organizational citizenship behavior framework and a scale to measure these behaviors has been developed. The goal of the present research was to address conceptual and psychometric issues of this scale by: (a) conceptualizing organizational environmental citizenship behavior within the dominant target-based framework, (b) developing and refining a new, more comprehensive measure of organizational environmental citizenship behavior and (c) validating this new measure by providing evidence for its content, construct, convergent, discriminant, concurrent, incremental concurrent and nomological validity, and its internal and temporal stability. To this end, six separate studies (N = 652) were conducted, which together produced a psychometrically acceptable measure of organizational environmental citizenship behavior. Theoretical and practical implications from this research and direction for future research are discussed.     

SALCUSTOR: A Multidimensional Scale for Salespersons’ Customer Orientation and Implications for Customer-Oriented Selling: Empirical Evidence From India

ABSTRACT

Recent studies have highlighted the limitations in the applicability of the selling-versus-customer orientation scale as a measure of a salesperson's customer orientation. Therefore, few scholars call for new research on identifying the underlying dimensions of customer-oriented selling and for developing a new scale. This study provides a new conceptualization of a salesperson's customer orientation and develops and validates a multidimensional scale to measure it. This scale, SALCUSTOR, uses multiple samples of data from salespersons from India. SALCUSTOR assesses the degree to which a salesperson (a) provides relevant and correct information to his/her customers, (b) understands and learns the underlying needs of the customers, and (c) maintains relationships with customers and thinks about their long-term benefits. We establish the reliability, convergent, discriminant, and nomological validity of SALCUSTOR. Managers can use SALCUSTOR to identify specific gaps in the three dimensions of customer-oriented selling behaviors of the salespersons, using appropriate intervention strategies.     

Proposition for an improved version of the consumer entitlement inventory

This note proposes an improved version of the Consumer Entitlement Inventory (CEI) developed by Boyd and Helms ( 2005 ). Two studies, conducted in two different cultural settings—France (n = 203) and the United States (n = 181)—raised some issues with the original version of the CEI. The underlying theoretical reasons for these results are discussed and an analysis of the CEI's content validity is performed. An improved version of the CEI, enriched with items that more closely capture the consumer entitlement construct, is proposed. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Product knowledge of fabric sales personnel: a comparison of three measurement methods

This study was designed to compare responses of fabric sales personnel to three types of product knowledge measures. These measures were: (1) written test items on a questionnaire; (2) oral items administered by a researcher posing as a consumer; and (3) projective items that require estimation of other clerks' knowledge. Fifty-four clerks participated in the consumer interviews and 100 completed a questionnaire containing the written test and projective items. Forty clerks completed all three measures. In contrast to some of the findings regarding the measurement of attitudes, estimation of other people's knowledge was not found to be a useful indicator of the estimator's own knowledge. Furthermore, the consumer interview and written test methods were found to produce similar, but not completely interchangeable, results. A major implication of these findings is that one should consider the objectives of the measurement process in selecting a method for measuring product knowledge.     

Being True to Oneself: Investigating Celebrity Brand Authenticity

Celebrity brand authenticity is introduced as a construct that represents consumer perceptions of celebrities being “true to oneself” in their behaviors and interactions with consumers. A scale is developed through two purification stages and the scale's predictive validity is assessed. First, the meaning of celebrity brand authenticity to consumers is explored. Second, the Authenticity Inventory from the psychology literature is adapted to develop a scale for consumer perceptions of celebrity brand authenticity. Celebrity brands are perceived as true to self when they appear genuine in their relationships with consumers and behave in accordance with their perceived held values. Evidence of the convergent and discriminant validity of the celebrity brand authenticity scale is provided, which confirms celebrity brand authenticity as distinct from celebrity attachment, despite containing relational items. Finally, the predictive power of celebrity brand authenticity is confirmed through positively influencing consumer intentions to purchase an endorsed brand. Brand managers can use celebrity brand authenticity to position or develop celebrity brands, as well as in the selection of celebrity endorsers.