Consumer Sentiment Toward Retailers

What it measures

Five five-point Likert-type items measure consumer sentiment toward retailers and their salespeople as a component of a broader index of consumer attitudes toward marketing. Items assess perceptions of customer treatment, unpleasantness of shopping, salesperson helpfulness, availability of assistance, and adequacy of retailer service. The five-item version was derived by eliminating two lower-performing items from a seven-item pool.

Response format

5-point Likert

Scale items

• Most retail stores serve their customers well. (r)
• Because of the way retailers treat me, most of my shopping is unpleasant.
• I find most retail salespeople to be very helpful. (r)
• Most retail stores provide an adequate selection of merchandise. (r)
• In general, most middlemen make excessive profits.
• When I need assistance in a store, I am usually not able to get it.
• Most retailers provide adequate service. (r)

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

Usage notes & scoring

Part of the University of Notre Dame/Market Facts Index of Consumer Sentiment Toward Marketing. The seven-item version had alpha of .783; removing items 4 and 5 yielded the five-item version with alpha of .819. All seven items are retained below for reference. Factor analysis of the full 20-item index showed clean loading patterns with minimal cross-loadings.

Citation

Gaski, J. F., & Etzel, M. J. (1986). The index of consumer sentiment toward marketing. Journal of Marketing, 50(3), 71–81.

Keywords