Underdog (Start-up)

What it measures

The scale captures perceived underdog positioning of a start-up — the belief that it has genuine passion for its product but faces real obstacles to success — a well-studied brand-narrative construct.

Response format

Likely 7-point Likert (exact anchors not stated in source)

Scale items

• I think the start-up selling this product is an underdog.
• This is a start-up which had to overcome obstacles to succeed.
• This is a start-up which has passion for its product.

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

Usage notes & scoring

Acar et al. (2021) adapted this scale from a measure used by Kirmani et al. (2017); used with a Prolific sample. Reliability was good (α = .90). Validity wasn't discussed. This is a companion to three other scales from the same paper already on this site (Product Preference ×2, Purchase Motivation).

Recommended companion scales

Citation

Acar, Oguz A., Darren W. Dahl, Christoph Fuchs, and Martin Schreier (2021), "The Signal Value of Crowdfunded Products," Journal of Marketing Research, 58 (4), 644–661.

Keywords

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