Branded Product Attachment

What it measures

Eight items measure the depth of a consumer's emotional attachment to a specific branded physical product — including feelings of commitment, care, and distress at the prospect of loss or damage. Nitzan and Ein-Gar (2019) used the scale in Study 5 with 282 Prolific participants. The scale appears to have been created by the authors, drawing on vocabulary and concepts from existing product attachment research. Given the item content, the focal product should be something that can plausibly be lost or broken.

Response format

7-point Likert (1=strongly disagree, 7=strongly agree)

Scale items

• I feel highly committed to my __________.
• I am emotionally attached to my __________.
• I am very likely to recommend my __________ to a friend.
• I handle my __________ carefully.
• If my __________ is broken I will try to fix it.
• I have a strong bond with my __________.
• If I lose my __________ tomorrow I will be extremely sorry.
• I do not feel strongly connected to my __________. (r)

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

Usage notes & scoring

Item 8 is reverse-scored. Item 3 (likelihood of recommending) is somewhat atypical for an attachment scale and may reflect a distinct advocacy facet. Blanks should be filled with the branded product name and category (e.g., Fitbit smartwatch). The full item list was provided in the article's web appendix.

Citation

Nitzan, I., & Ein-Gar, D. (2019). The 'commitment projection' effect: When multiple payments for a product affect defection from a service. Journal of Marketing Research, 56(5), 842–861.

Keywords