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ABSTRACT
The concept of cognitive dissonance has been discussed widely in the consumer behavior literature, yet paradoxically, there is no well established scale to measure it. This article describes the development of a 22-item scale for assessing cognitive dissonance immediately after purchase. First, the article discusses the conceptualization of the construct, recognizing that dissonance is not only cognitive in nature, but also has an emotional component, consistent with Festinger's early description of dissonance as a psychologically uncomfortable state. The procedures used to develop and refine the scale are subsequently described. This included a qualitative study to generate the items and two samples for each stage of the quantitative stages of scale refinement. Evidence of the scale's sound psychometric properties, including its reliability, validity and factor structure is given. (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Festinger (1957) described cognitive dissonance as a psychologically uncomfortable state that motivates a person to reduce that dissonance. Following Festinger's early work, dissonance has been discussed in a multitude of studies and remains a topic of great interest in social psychology, as can be seen in the recent book of Harmon-Jones and Mills (1999). However, a review by Cummings and Venkatesan (1976) marked a reduction of interest in the subject in marketing, despite their conclusion that "the evidence in favor of dissonance theory in the consumer behavior literature looks good" (p. 307). We agree with Oliver (1997) that this reduction in interest was both inexplicable and unfortunate. The concept needs to be further delineated and the relationships between cognitive dissonance and other postpurchase constructs, such as consumer satisfaction and attributions, need to be investigated. The time is ripe for a review of dissonance, a redefinition of the construct, and the development of an operational measure. Indeed, Oliver (1997, p. 261) concluded a chapter on cognitive dissonance with the hope "that the construction, validation and dissemination of comprehensive dissonance measures will be forthcoming."
Cognitive dissonance is an elusive construct. In experimental situations it has been measured in terms of indicators such as physiological reactions following dissonance arousal, attitude change following dissonance arousal or through changes in attitude to chosen and unchosen alternatives that were initially similarly valued. Cognitive dissonance has been occasionally measured by one or more indicators selected by...