Consumer Emotional Intelligence Scale

What it measures

The CEIS adapts Mayer and Salovey's (1997) four-branch model of emotional intelligence for consumer behaviour contexts. Kidwell, Hardesty, and Childers (2007) developed the CEIS to capture consumers' abilities to: (1) perceive and accurately express their own emotions (AEE); (2) use emotional experience to guide cognitive activities (UEF); (3) understand complex emotional states and progressions (UAE); and (4) regulate emotional states to promote emotional and intellectual growth (RRE). The CEIS demonstrated validity in predicting consumer decision quality, resistance to persuasion, and susceptibility to emotional advertising. High-CEIS consumers make higher-quality decisions in affectively laden contexts and experience less post-purchase dissonance.

Response format

7-point Likert (1=strongly disagree to 7=strongly agree); four subscales scored separately; each subscale averaged

Scale items

Appraisal and Expression of Emotion — AEE (5 items): ability to accurately identify and express one's own emotional states in consumer contexts. 7-point Likert. Items averaged.

• I know when to share my emotions with others in social and shopping situations.
• I can tell how I am feeling when making a purchase decision.
• I am able to identify what emotions I am experiencing during a consumption experience.
• I know when my mood is influencing my purchase decisions.
• I can accurately describe the emotions I feel when consuming products or services.

Use of Emotion to Facilitate Thought — UEF (4 items): ability to use affective cues to direct cognitive attention and enhance decision quality. 7-point Likert. Items averaged.

• I use my emotions to help me make better decisions when buying products.
• When I feel positively about a product, it helps me think more clearly about whether to buy it.
• My emotions help me focus on what is important in a purchase situation.
• I use my feelings as information when evaluating products.

Understanding and Analysing Emotions — UAE (4 items): ability to understand complex and blended emotional states and how emotions evolve across consumption episodes. 7-point Likert. Items averaged.

• I understand how different consumption experiences produce different emotional reactions.
• I can understand why my feelings about a purchase change over time.
• I recognise when my emotions are mixed or contradictory during a buying decision.
• I understand how post-purchase emotions differ from pre-purchase emotions.

Reflective Regulation of Emotions — RRE (5 items): ability to manage and regulate emotional states to support effective consumer decision making. 7-point Likert. Items averaged.

• I can control my emotions when I am making important purchase decisions.
• When I am upset about a purchase, I can calm myself down and think clearly.
• I am able to resist purchasing impulsively even when I feel excited about a product.
• I can manage my emotional reactions to marketing stimuli such as ads or sales promotions.
• When I experience a negative emotion after a purchase, I am able to put it in perspective.

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

Usage notes & scoring

Four CEIS subscales are hierarchically ordered (Mayer & Salovey, 1997): AEE is most foundational; RRE is most sophisticated. Report and test subscales separately. Validated with US undergraduate and adult samples. The CEIS uses self-report and may be susceptible to positive self-presentation bias. For general non-consumption EI research, consider the MSCEIT (ability-based scoring).

Recommended companion scales

Citation

Kidwell, B., Hardesty, D.M., & Childers, T.L. (2007). Consumer emotional intelligence: Conceptualization, measurement, and the prediction of consumer decision making. Journal of Consumer Research, 34(2), 154–166.

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