Desire to Vent About the Company

What it measures

A three-item scale measuring the strength of a dissatisfied consumer's desire to express and release their frustrations about a company. Items capture the urge to vent, the desire to express frustrations, and the motivation to release pent-up feelings about a specific company. The scale operationalises venting as a distinct consumer motive — separate from constructive complaint behaviour — that drives emotional expression rather than problem-resolution seeking.

Response format

7-point Likert

Scale items

• I want to vent about my experiences with the company.
• I want to express my frustrations about the company.
• I want to let out my feelings about the company.

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

Usage notes & scoring

Single alpha: α = .93 — Hydock, Chen & Carlson (2020, Study 5; n = 1,091 MTurk). VALIDITY: Not reported. Scale source not stated — appears original to the authors. Developed for research on why dissatisfied customers fail to share negative feedback with companies, finding that high venting desire is associated with avoidance of formal complaint channels. Items refer to 'the company' generically — in practice, a specific company name or description should be presented to participants as the referent before the scale is administered.

Citation

Hydock, Chris, Zoey Chen, and Kurt Carlson (2020). Why unhappy customers are unlikely to share their opinions with brands. Journal of Marketing, 84(6), 95–112.

Keywords