The development of a scale to measure perceived corporate credibility

This paper describes the development and validation of a short, reliable, a nd valid self-report scale designed to measure corporate credibility or the amount of expertise and trustworthiness that consumers perceive in a corpo ration. Corporate credibility is thus conceptualized as a type of source cr edibility focused on a specific corporation as the maker of a product and/o r the source of advertising and of other marketing communications. Empirica l research into the antecedents, correlates, and consequences of perceived corporate credibility has been hindered by the lack of a reliable and valid measure. Five studies using data from a total of 864 subjects are describe d detailing the development and validation of an eight-item, Likert-type sc ale containing two dimensions: expertise and trustworthiness. Evidence is p resented attesting to the scale's dimensionality, reliability, and validity . (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.