Empathy for the Business

What it measures

A three-item scale measuring the degree to which a consumer feels empathy toward a business — concern, compassion, and care for what the company is experiencing. Items tap empathic concern, fellow-feeling, and the sense of wanting the business to do well. Applicable to research on consumer responses to business hardship, corporate vulnerability, and marketplace adversity such as disease threats or disasters.

Response format

7-point Likert

Scale items

• I feel empathy for this business.
• I feel concerned about this business.
• I feel compassion for this business.

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

Usage notes & scoring

Single alpha: α = .97 — Galoni, Carpenter & Rao (2020, Study 5; n = 419). VALIDITY: Not reported. Adapted from Block et al. (2012) consumer compassion for companies scale. Applicable to any research context where consumer empathy toward a company is theoretically relevant, including business hardship, ethical failure, or crisis communication.

Recommended companion scales

Citation

Block, Lauren G., Punam Anand Keller, Kent Nakamoto, and Patti Williams (2012). Consumer compassion for companies. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 31(2), 274–277. [Applied by: Galoni, Chelsea, Gregory S. Carpenter, and Hayagreeva Rao (2020). Disgusted and afraid: Consumer choices under the threat of contagious disease. Journal of Consumer Research, 47(3), 373–392.]

Keywords