Need for Touch Scale

What it measures

Measures individual differences in the tendency to gather product information through touch. Autotelic NFT captures haptic exploration for its own intrinsic pleasure — touching products is enjoyable regardless of purchase intent. Instrumental NFT captures touching as a means to gather diagnostic product information before making a quality or purchase judgment — touching to evaluate texture, firmness, weight, or temperature. NFT is a critical moderator of channel preference: high-NFT consumers are less satisfied with e-commerce and more likely to visit physical stores to touch before buying. NFT also predicts responses to tactile packaging, product sampling, and virtual try-on technologies.

Response format

Likert (1–7, strongly disagree to strongly agree)

Scale items

Autotelic NFT — intrinsic pleasure from touching for its own sake (Likert 1–7, strongly disagree to strongly agree)

• When walking through stores, I can't help touching all kinds of products.
• Touching products can be fun.
• I place a lot of emphasis on the feel of things I come in contact with in everyday life.
• I find myself touching all kinds of products in stores.
• I feel more comfortable purchasing a product after physically examining it.
• When I browse in a store, I like to touch lots of products.

Instrumental NFT — touching to gather information before purchase

• I would not be able to evaluate some products well without being able to touch them.
• The texture of a product is important to me when making a purchase decision.
• I prefer to shop at stores where I can touch and examine the products.
• Touching a product can tell me a lot about its quality.
• When evaluating products, it is important for me to hold them.
• I like to touch products even when I am not planning to buy them.

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

Usage notes & scoring

Two subscale scores. Autotelic NFT drives physical store preference and browsing behaviour; Instrumental NFT drives demand for detailed product imagery, material descriptions, and return policies in online retail. NFT moderates the persuasiveness of tactile language in advertising copy. NFT-6 short form available (3 items per subscale). Foundational to sensory marketing research.

Recommended companion scales

Citation

Peck, J., & Childers, T.L. (2003). To have and to hold: The influence of haptic information on product judgments. Journal of Marketing, 67(2), 35–48.

Keywords