A scale for measuring store personality

The objective of this research study was to develop a scale for measuring store personality and to assess its psychometric properties. A preliminary study showed that store personality comprised five dimensions, termed sophistication, solidity, genuineness, enthusiasm, and unpleasantness. A follow-up survey with 226 adult consumers confirmed the stability of the factorial structure of the 34-item store-personality scale as well as the reliability of each composite dimension. Some empirical evidence was gathered with respect to the scale's construct validity, because the proposed store-personality scale was shown to behave in a manner consistent with self-image congruence theory. Additional analyses revealed that a reduced scale including 20 items exhibited factorial stability and resulted in reliable measures of the five store-personality dimensions. Finally, some empirical support was obtained in favor of using the proposed scale across different retail settings. (C) 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.