Psychic distance: a concept past its due date?

Abstract

Reflects on the comments made by Evans et al. concerning a previously published article by the authors in IMR, but only partly concurs with their conclusions. As to the interpretation of the results, maintains that the contradictory empirical evidence prevents a meaningful use of the construct. In terms of the operationalisation, partly agrees with Evans et al., but argues that a more complete operationalisation of psychic distance would only be sensible if one is willing to drop the idea of using psychic distance as a summary indicator.