Online Parasocial Relationship Scale

What it measures

This scale measures the one-sided emotional bond consumers form with media figures (e.g., social media influencers) in modern online environments, reconceptualizing parasocial relationship (PSR) for contexts existing scales built for offline/broadcast media fail to capture. It distinguishes three facets: how emotionally close and familiar the figure feels, how motivated the consumer is to keep engaging with them, and whether the consumer wants the relationship to extend into an actual real-life encounter or friendship. The instrument was developed across five studies and outperformed the two most-cited prior PSR scales (Rubin et al., 1985; Rubin & Perse, 1987) on convergent validity and predictive power for brand attitude and purchase intention, in both online and offline comparison contexts.

Scale items

Intimacy

• The other party makes me feel comfortable, as if I am with family.
• I think I understand the other party quite well.
• I treat the other party as a friend.

Relationship Maintenance

• I want to support the other party.
• I would like to continue engaging with the other party.
• If the other party appeared on a different media platform, I would watch it.

Real-Life Relationship Intention

• I would like to be friends with the other party in real life.
• I would like to meet the other party in person.

Citation

Sheng, J., Kostyk, A. and Chatzipanagiotou, K. (2026). Parasocial relationship: reconceptualization, scale development and validation. Journal of Business Research, 210, 116122.