Online Purchase Risk

What it measures

Measures the perceived risk of purchasing a specific product from an online retailer — including general riskiness, probability of a problem, and worry about disappointment. Used in Studies 1 and 3 in research on psychological distance and trust in unfamiliar online retailers, with undergraduate business students. Two blanks appear in items 2 and 3 — first for the product name, second for the retailer name. Conceptually inspired by Campbell and Goodstein (2001).

Response format

9-point Likert (likely strongly disagree/strongly agree; anchors not stated)

Scale items

• Purchasing a _____ from __________ would be risky.
• There is a good chance of a problem if I purchased a _____ from the __________ website.
• I would be worried about being disappointed if I purchased the _____ from the __________ website.

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

Usage notes & scoring

Insert product name in first blank and retailer name in second blank of items 2 and 3; item 1 uses product in first blank and retailer in second blank. Response scale described as Likert-type; anchors not stated but strongly disagree/strongly agree assumed. CR = .91 (Study 1) and .94 (Study 3). CFA confirmed convergent and discriminant validity. Conceptually inspired by Campbell and Goodstein (2001), Journal of Consumer Research, 28 (December), 439–449.

Recommended companion scales

Citation

Darke, P.R., Brady, M.K., Benedicktus, R.L., & Wilson, A.E. (2016). Feeling close from afar: The role of psychological distance in offsetting distrust in unfamiliar online retailers. Journal of Retailing, 92(3), 287–299.

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