Sensitive Nature of the Product

What it measures

The scale measures how private or embarrassing a product is perceived to be — whether it's something a person would rather not discuss with a stranger or that reveals something intimate about them. Five items assess perceived sensitivity, developed to test whether people are more willing to disclose purchases of such products on their smartphone versus their PC.

Response format

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

Scale items

• very private.
• potentially embarrassing.
• not one that would be discussed with a stranger.
• reveals something personal about the user.
• very intimate.

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

Usage notes & scoring

Source not stated by Melumad and Meyer (2020), who appear to have created the scale themselves; used with MTurk participants. Reliability was strong (α = .92). Validity wasn't separately discussed.

Citation

Melumad, S., & Meyer, R. (2020). Full Disclosure: How Smartphones Enhance Consumer Self-Disclosure. Journal of Marketing, 84(3), 28-45.

Keywords