Measures the perceived credibility of an advertising endorser (celebrity, expert, or influencer) across three dimensions: expertise (competence, experience, knowledge), trustworthiness (reliability, honesty, sincerity), and attractiveness (physical appeal, elegance, sex appeal). The most widely used source credibility measure in advertising and influencer marketing research.
Semantic differential (5-point bipolar adjective pairs)
Expertise — perceived knowledge and competence of the source (semantic differential 1–7)
Trustworthiness — perceived honesty and sincerity of the source (semantic differential 1–7)
Attractiveness — perceived physical and social appeal of the source (semantic differential 1–7)
Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.
Three subscale scores. Score = mean per dimension. Trustworthiness and Expertise are the strongest predictors of attitude change and purchase intention. Attractiveness predicts attitude toward the ad but has weaker effects on brand attitudes. Widely adapted for influencer marketing, sponsored content, and health communication research.
Ohanian, R. (1990). Construction and validation of a scale to measure celebrity endorsers' perceived expertise, trustworthiness, and attractiveness. Journal of Advertising, 19(3), 39–52.
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