The construction and validation of a consumer orientation questionnaire (SCOI) designed to measure Fromm's (1955) 'marketing character' in Australia

An instrument (SCOI) was designed to measure Fromm's (1955) marketing chara cter, which is based on the notion that the self may be experienced as a co mmodity whose value and meaning are externally determined. In study 1 (N=80 & 302), the hypothesis that the SCOI would be positively correlated with C onformity, Authoritarianism and Anger Expression was supported, providing s upport for Fromm's (1955) theory that these latter three traits would be ev ident in those individuals defined by the marketing character. The hypothes es that the SCOI and Materialism (Richins & Dawson, 1992), would be positiv ely correlated with both Commercial Television Viewing and Anxiety were als o supported. In study 2 (N=87) the hypotheses that the SCOI and Materialism would be positively correlated with Depression and negatively correlated w ith Voluntary Simplicity were supported. The hypothesis that the SCOI would be negatively correlated with Life Satisfaction was not supported, althoug h Materialism was significantly and negatively correlated with Life Satisfa ction. In study 3 (N=80), the hypotheses that the SCOI and Materialism woul d be negatively correlated with Empathy and Neuroticism were not supported, the latter result suggesting that neuroticism may not be an adequate indic ator of psychological health per se. In study 4 (N=101), the hypotheses tha t the SCOI and Materialism would be negatively correlated with Biophilia an d Environmentalism were also supported. Further, the SCOI was able to discr iminate both between Ss from Newcastle, NSW (one of two preferred test mark ets in Australia) and Ss from a permaculture community in south-east Queens land, Australia, and between Ss enrolled in management and Ss enrolled in a rts/science at the University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia. Hence, the SCOI generally performed as expected in tests of convergent, divergent and disc riminant validity.