Multi-Item Scale Development for Online Consumption Emotion Construct and Psychometric Evaluation for Relationship Marketing

Abstract

The present study aims to develop a multi-item scale to measure the online consumption emotion (OCE) to facilitate understanding of relationship marketing. Qualitative and quantitative approaches were employed, and psychometric procedures were followed for the scale development. The initial pool of scale items was tested using EFA with SPSS (v. 21.0), and CFA with AMOS (v. 18.0) to confirm the dimensionality of OCE scale. The EFA results revealed that OCE is a five-dimensional construct which consisted of 39 items. The scale includes excitement, comfort, ecstasy, annoyance and romance. The adequacy of employing a categorical approach to assess online shoppers’ emotional experiences in terms of positive/negative responses is required for online relationship marketing orientation. The online consumption emotion scale can be used to understand individual’s online shopping behavior. The findings can help online marketers to envisage relationship marketing strategies to increase their retail customer base, retain customers, improve positive word-of-mouth, and to improve relationship marketing for long-term profitability.