Self-Gifting Consumer Behaviour Scale

What it measures

A 25-item multidimensional scale measuring the motivational dimensions that drive self-gifting consumer behaviour (SGCB) — the act of purchasing products, services, or experiences as personally symbolic gifts for oneself. Developed through Churchill's (1979) scale development process, the scale encompasses seven theoretically grounded dimensions spanning reward, celebratory, hedonic, therapeutic motivation, negative mood reduction, positive mood reinforcement, and personal disappointment. The personal disappointment dimension is introduced for the first time in this scale, distinguishing immediate emotional responses from slower-moving negative mood states. Validated across two independent consumer samples using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling.

Response format

7-point Likert (1=strongly disagree, 7=strongly agree)

Scale items

SG Reward (α = .935) — 7-point Likert (1=strongly disagree, 7=strongly agree)

• I buy gifts for myself when I achieve goals.
• In order to reward myself, I would buy something special.
• I think it is rewarding to buy a gift for myself when I get a promotion.

SG Personal Disappointment (α = .930) — 7-point Likert (1=strongly disagree, 7=strongly agree)

• When I get sudden bad news, I buy things to make me feel better.
• If I get unexpected criticism, I will go out and buy myself something nice.
• I feel buying a gift for myself would help me deal with a sudden or unexpected loss.

SG Celebratory (α = .882) — 7-point Likert (1=strongly disagree, 7=strongly agree). Item 1 is reverse-scored.

• I would not buy gifts for myself to remind me of special times in my life. (r)
• Purchasing a gift for myself makes a special occasion more memorable.
• I will buy things for myself as memorabilia of events in my life.

SG Therapeutic Motivation (α = .964) — 7-point Likert (1=strongly disagree, 7=strongly agree). Item 3 is reverse-scored.

• Buying something special for myself motivates me to do more.
• I buy gifts for myself which inspire me to work harder.
• I do not purchase gifts for myself to feel motivated to achieve my goals. (r)
• I buy things for myself which make me motivated to achieve my goals.

SG Negative Mood Reduction (α = .960) — 7-point Likert (1=strongly disagree, 7=strongly agree)

• If I've been feeling down for a while, I will buy things to make myself feel better.
• In order to make myself feel brighter, I would buy something for myself if I was having a really bad week.
• When my self-esteem has been low for some time, I would buy a present to cheer myself up.
• If I have been feeling disgruntled for a while, I will treat myself to something nice.
• I would purchase something small for myself when I've been feeling sad.

SG Positive Mood Reinforcement (α = .918) — 7-point Likert (1=strongly disagree, 7=strongly agree)

• I buy gifts for myself because owning something new reinforces positive feelings.
• When I am feeling great, I buy special things for myself.
• If I'm in a good mood, I will buy myself something nice.
• When I feel good about myself, I will purchase an item for myself to maintain my positive mood.

SG Hedonic (α = .836) — 7-point Likert (1=strongly disagree, 7=strongly agree)

• I buy things for myself because I find shopping to be an exciting form of entertainment.
• I enjoy shopping for myself because I like the feeling of finding a bargain.
• I buy special gifts for myself in order to feel exhilarated.

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

Usage notes & scoring

Validated across two CFA studies: Study 1 (n=449, prompted recall) and Study 2 (n=400, unprompted). CFA Study 1 Cronbach's alphas ranged from .836 (Hedonic) to .964 (Therapeutic Motivation), all exceeding the .70 threshold. Study 2 alphas were somewhat lower, with Hedonic (.680) and Celebratory (.757) falling below .80, likely reflecting the absence of a prompted self-gifting recall condition. AVE exceeded .50 for all dimensions in Study 1, supporting convergent validity. Discriminant validity was confirmed via the Fornell-Larcker criterion. Measurement invariance across gender was established. Nomological validity was supported through significant positive relationships with self-indulgence, impulsive shopping, and gratification shopping. Two negatively worded items were removed from the EFA-stage pool prior to the final CFA scale (reducing the scale from 27 to 25 items). The scale includes reverse-scored items in the Celebratory and Therapeutic Motivation dimensions.

Citation

Mortimer, G., Bougoure, U. S., & Fazal-E-Hasan, S. (2015). Development and validation of the Self-Gifting Consumer Behaviour scale. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 14(3), 165–179.

Keywords