Sponsor Self-Interest Perception

What it measures

Three seven-point semantic differential items assess the degree to which a respondent perceives the questioner or sponsor of an intention question as having a self-interested or profit-motivated agenda. Items tap perceived self-interest, perceived profit motive, and perceived objectivity. The scale was used as a manipulation check to confirm that participants distinguished between self-interested and benign intention questioning.

Response format

7-point semantic differential

Scale items

• not at all self-interested / very self-interested
• did not have direct profit motive / had a very direct profit motive
• very objective / not at all objective

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

Usage notes & scoring

Alpha of .82 (n=22 in pretest). Limited formal validity testing; predictive validity was supported via a successful manipulation check. Used in a pretest for Experiment 1 only.

Citation

Williams, P., Fitzsimons, G. J., & Block, L. G. (2004). When consumers do not recognize 'benign' intention questions as persuasion attempts. Journal of Consumer Research, 31(3), 540–550.

Keywords