An Exploration into the Scaling of Consumer Confidence: Dimensions, Antecedents, and Consequences
Department
Marketing and Professional Sales
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-1991
Abstract
Investigated the structure of consumer confidence to uncover the determinants of confidence and to evaluate the effects of consumer confidence on product use during conditions of uncertain product quality. A causal model was proposed to test the relationships among the elements of consumer confidence and the determinants of that confidence. Analysis of the model suggested that attitudinal confidence is a construct with 3 dimensions: attitudinal intensity, attitudinal certainty, and social consensus. Results from the model, tested among 462 university students, suggest that these dimensions tap 2 independent sources of conviction: attitudinal certainty and attitudinal intensity. The causal model suggests several possible determinants of the elements of consumer confidence. One proposed antecedent, the perceived resistance of the attitude, was influential in affecting consumer confidence.