Measures how likely a consumer considers it that a specific product or brand will face a supply shortage. Items assess probability of limited availability from a demand-driven perspective by default, though the phrasing can be adapted to reflect supply-side scarcity. Used as a manipulation check across three studies on scarcity appeals in advertising, involving pilot, student, and MTurk samples across Korean and U.S. populations. Blanks in the item stem should be replaced with the focal product or brand name.
9-point likelihood scale (1=not at all likely, 9=very likely)
Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.
Response anchors: not at all likely (1) to very likely (9). In Study 3 (supply-side context), 'due to high consumer demand' was replaced with 'due to supply chain problems.' Alphas: .88 (pilot study), .93 (Study 2), .97 (Study 3). Used as a manipulation check with successful manipulations providing implicit predictive validity support.
Mukherjee, A., & Lee, S.Y. (2016). Scarcity appeals in advertising: The moderating role of expectation of scarcity. Journal of Advertising, 45(2), 256–268.
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