Measuring the Hedonic and Utilitarian Dimensions of Consumer Attitude

TLDR

The study develops and validates a concise, generalizable scale that measures hedonic and utilitarian dimensions of consumer attitudes toward product categories and brands. The authors created a ten‑item hedonic/utilitarian scale, refined it through six studies to confirm unidimensionality, reliability, and validity, and demonstrated nomological validity by substituting it for a traditional one‑dimensional brand attitude measure in a central route processing model. Results confirm that hedonic and utilitarian attitudes are distinct dimensions and are reliably and validly captured by the HED/UT scale.

Abstract

This article reports the development and validation of a parsimonious, generalizable scale that measures the hedonic and utilitarian dimensions of consumer attitudes toward product categories and different brands within categories. The hedonic/utilitarian (HED/UT) scale includes ten semantic differential response items, five of which refer to the hedonic dimension and five of which refer to the utilitarian dimension of consumer attitudes. The authors conducted six studies to establish the unidimensionality, reliability, and validity of the two HED/UT subscales. In reaching the final scale, the authors also develop and implement a unique process of paring down a psychometrically sound but otherwise too large set of items. Nomological validity is established by replacing a typical, one-dimensional attitude toward the brand measure with the hedonic and utilitarian dimensions in a central route processing model. Results suggest that the hedonic and utilitarian constructs are two distinct dimensions of brand attitude and are reliably and validly measured by the HED/UT scale.