In-Store Choice Overload

What it measures

Assesses the degree to which a shopper perceives a store to offer an excessive number of product options within a category they are interested in. Items specifically tie perceived overload to the respondent's personal area of shopping interest within the store. Used in research examining how assortment-related shopping stress contributes to purchase abandonment among different shopper types. Inspired by a single semantic differential item from Dickson and Albaum (1977). Alphas: .93 (Study 1a, n=883) and .97 (Study 1b, n=501).

Response format

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

Scale items

• The store offered too many items in the product category I was interested in.
• In the store, the choice of products I was interested in was too wide.
• In the store, there was an overchoice of items in the product category I was interested in.

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

Usage notes & scoring

Response anchors: strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (7). The third item uses the term 'overchoice,' which may be unfamiliar; consider replacing with 'overload' or 'over abundance' Alphas: .93 (Study 1a) and .97 (Study 1b).

Recommended companion scales

Citation

Albrecht, C.M., Hattula, S., & Lehmann, D.R. (2017). The relationship between consumer shopping stress and purchase abandonment in task-oriented and recreation-oriented consumers. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 45(5), 720–740.

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