Brand Authenticity (Integrity)

What it measures

A five-item scale measuring the degree to which a brand is perceived as morally principled, honest, and genuinely committed to the values of its consumers and society. Items tap perceived moral principles, fidelity to a value set, consumer orientation, honesty, and alignment with broader social values. As the integrity dimension of the Morhart et al. (2015) brand authenticity framework, this subscale captures the ethical and value-driven foundation of authentic brand perception — the sense that a brand's identity is grounded in genuine moral commitments rather than market performance.

Response format

7-point Likert

Scale items

• _____ seems like a brand with moral principles.
• _____ seems like a brand that is true to a set of moral values.
• _____ seems like a brand that cares about consumers.
• _____ seems like an honest brand.
• _____ seems like a brand that reflects important values that people care about.

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

Usage notes & scoring

FILL-IN-THE-BLANK FORMAT: Blanks should be replaced with the brand name. Alpha ranged from .89 to .98 across multiple studies — Han et al. (2021, Journal of Marketing Research 58(4), 712–729). VALIDITY: Han et al. (2021) conducted factor analyses confirming item loading on the integrity dimension across studies. Original development: Morhart et al. (2015) validated the integrity dimension as part of a four-dimension brand authenticity battery. Companion to Brand Authenticity (Continuity) (BRAUC, ID 2046) from the same framework.

Recommended companion scales

Citation

Morhart, Felicitas, Lucia Malär, Amélie Guèvremont, Florent Girardin, and Bianca Grohmann (2015). Brand authenticity: An integrative framework and measurement scale. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 25(2), 200–218.

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