Purchase Decision Involvement

What it measures

The PDI distinguishes two qualitatively different forms of purchase-occasion involvement: Product Class Involvement (PCI), reflecting perceived importance and personal relevance of the product category itself, and Brand Decision Involvement (BDI), reflecting concern about selecting the best brand within the category. Mittal (1989) argued that prior involvement scales conflated these constructs: a consumer may be highly involved with a product class but relatively unconcerned about brand decision, or vice versa. PCI predicts depth of category search; BDI predicts comparison shopping, brand attribute evaluation, and brand switching. Particularly useful in services marketing, gift purchasing, and health product research.

Representative items

• The purchase of [product] is important to me. (PCI)
• I give a lot of thought to which brand of [product] to buy. (BDI)
• I feel that the [product] category is relevant to me personally. (PCI)

Citation

Mittal, B. (1989). Measuring purchase-decision involvement. Psychology & Marketing, 6(2), 147–162.