Observer Blame Attribution

What it measures

Three items measure how much a third-party observer holds a specific individual responsible for a problem that occurred. Wan and Wyer (2019) used the scale across five experiments in service failure contexts, applying it to waitstaff, managers, customers, and salespeople. The response format is notable in using a 10-point scale. The item wording uses second-person ('you') to address the observer.

Response format

10-point Likert (anchors not specified)

Scale items

• You blame the _____ for the problem you observed.
• You think the _____ was responsible for the problem you observed.
• You think that the problem was not in the control of the _____.

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

Usage notes & scoring

Item 3 is reverse-worded ('not in the control of the _____') but is not marked (r) in the original source — researchers should confirm scoring direction before use. All alphas exceeded .90. The blank in each item should be replaced with a label for the party being blamed (e.g., waitress, manager, customer).

Recommended companion scales

Citation

Wan, L. C., & Wyer, R. S. (2019). The influence of incidental similarity on observers' causal attributions and reactions to a service failure. Journal of Consumer Research, 45(6), 1350–1368.

Keywords