Affective Customer-Company Identification

What it measures

Captures the emotional dimension of a customer's identification with a company — specifically, the extent to which the association elicits positive feelings such as pride and happiness. Derived from Johnson, Morgeson, and Hekman's (2012) distinction between cognitive and affective identification. Two discriminant validity tests confirmed that the affective and cognitive identification scales measure distinct constructs, with AVE = .79. Validated on a broad MTurk sample of 628 U.S. adults. A companion cognitive identification scale is available.

Response format

7-point Likert

Scale items

• The things that _____ stands for makes me feel good to be connected with it.
• Generally, being associated with _____ gives me a sense of pride.
• Overall, I feel good when people associate me with _____.
• I feel happy to be a customer of _____.

Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.

Usage notes & scoring

Insert the company or brand name in the blank. Companion cognitive identification scale (CCCI) available — see ID 795. Composite reliability (.94) and AVE (.79) both exceed recommended thresholds.

Recommended companion scales

Citation

Wolter, J.S., & Cronin, J.J. (2016). Re-conceptualizing cognitive and affective customer–company identification: The role of self-motives and different customer-based outcomes. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 44(3), 397–413.

Keywords