Company Ratings Typicality

What it measures

Three items assess the extent to which a company's customer ratings are perceived as typical of, and consistent with common beliefs about, companies in general. Yang and Aggarwal (2019) slightly adapted items from Bettencourt et al. (1997) who had developed them to measure violations of stereotypical expectations. The scale was used in Study 3a with 199 U.S. MTurk participants.

Response format

9-point bipolar (anchors vary by item; see items_full)

Scale items

• Compared to other companies, how typical are _____'s ratings? [very atypical / very typical]
• Compared to other companies, how expected are _____'s ratings? [very unexpected / very expected]
• To what extent do _____'s customer ratings fit common beliefs about companies? [does not fit beliefs / fits beliefs]

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

Usage notes & scoring

Each item has its own bipolar anchors embedded within the item text. EFA alongside a brand evaluation measure showed the two sets of items loading on separate factors, providing preliminary discriminant validity evidence.

Recommended companion scales

Citation

Yang, L. W., & Aggarwal, P. (2019). No small matter: How company size affects consumer expectations and evaluations. Journal of Consumer Research, 45(6), 1369–1384.

Keywords