Perceived Email Sender Identity (Peer vs. Expert)

What it measures

A four-item sentence-completion scale measuring whether a marketing communication's sender is perceived as a fellow patient/customer (peer) versus a company representative or expert. Two items positively keyed toward peer identity; two reverse-scored toward company identity.

Response format

7-point Likert (sentence completion)

Scale items

• ...like a person who has the same illness.
• ...like someone with the same condition.
• ...like a company expert. (r)
• ...like someone who works for the company. (r)

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

Usage notes & scoring

SENTENCE COMPLETION FORMAT: Items complete a stem (e.g., 'The sender of this email seems...'). Two items reverse-scored. Single alpha: α = .84 — Harmeling et al. (2021, Study 4 pretest; n = 101 MTurk). Used as manipulation check. Companion to Audience Intention Cue (AICE, ID 2096).

Recommended companion scales

Citation

Harmeling, Colleen M., Martin Mende, Maura L. Scott, and Robert W. Palmatier (2021). Marketing through the eyes of the stigmatized. Journal of Marketing Research, 58(2), 223–245.

Keywords