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Psychometric analyses of self-administered questionnaire data tend to focus on items and instruments as a whole. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the functioning of the response scale and its impact on measurement precision. In terms of the response scale direction, existing evidence is mixed and inconclusive.

Three experiments are conducted to examine the functioning of response scales of different direction, ranging from agree to disagree versus from disagree to agree. The response scale direction effect is exemplified by two different latent constructs by applying the Rasch model for measurement.

The agree-to-disagree format generally performs better than the disagree-to-agree variant with spatial proximity between the statement and the agree-pole of the scale appearing to drive the effect. The difference is essentially related to the unit of measurement.

A careful investigation of the functioning of the response scale should be part of every psychometric assessment. The framework of Rasch measurement theory offers unique opportunities in this regard.

Besides content, validity and reliability, academics and practitioners utilising published measurement instruments are advised to consider any evidence on the response scale functioning that is available.

The study exemplifies the application of the Rasch model to assess measurement precision as a function of the design of the response scale. The methodology raises the awareness for the unit of measurement, which typically remains hidden.

This paper aims to critically comment Rossiter’s “How to use C-OAR-SE to design optimal standard measures” in the current issue of EJM and provides a broader perspective on Rossiter’s C-OAR-SE framework and measurement practice in marketing in general.

The paper is conceptual, based on interpretation of measurement theory.

The paper shows that, at best, Rossiter’s mathematical dismissal of convergent validity applies to the completely hypothetical (and highly unlikely) situation where a perfect measure without any error would be available. Further considerations cast serious doubt on the appropriateness of Rossiter’s concrete object, dual subattribute-based single item measures. Being immunized against any piece of empirical evidence, C-OAR-SE cannot be considered a scientific theory and is bound to perpetuate, if not aggravate, the fundamental flaws in current measurement practice. While C-OAR-SE indeed helps generate more content valid instruments, the procedure offers no insights as to whether these instruments work properly to be used in research and practice.

This paper concludes that great caution needs to be exercised before adapting measurement instruments based on the C-OAR-SE procedure, and statistical evidence remains essential for validity assessment.

This paper identifies several serious conceptual and operational problems in Rossiter’s C-OAR-SE procedure and discusses how to align measurement in the social sciences to be compatible with the definition of measurement in the physical sciences.

The paper investigates the suitability of the Rasch model for establishing data equivalence. The results based on a real data set are contrasted with findings from standard procedures based on CFA methods.

Sinkovics et al.'s data on technophobia was used and re‐evaluated using both classical test theory (CTT) (multiple‐group structural equations modelling) and Rasch measurement theory.

Data equivalence in particular and measurement in general cannot be addressed without reference to theory. While both procedures can be considered best practice approaches within their respective theoretical foundation of measurement, the Rasch model provides some theoretical virtues. Measurement derived from data that fit the Rasch model seems to be approximated by classical procedures reasonably well. However, the reverse is not necessarily true.

The more widespread application of Rasch models would lead to a stronger justification of measurement, in particular, in cross‐cultural studies but also whenever measures of individual respondents are of interest.

Measurement models outside the framework of CTT are still scarce exceptions in marketing research.

The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into the temporal development of the customers' psychological state, described by a multitude of constructs, throughout the whole decision‐making process in a service context in order to derive ideas for customer‐focused benchmarking.

A combination of qualitative and quantitative data contributes to a better understanding of psychological phenomena during purchase decision making. The present longitudinal study investigates the consumers' psychological state during the decision‐making process considering services in tourism industry applying the diary method. Qualitative in‐depth investigation of individual case studies provides further information for interpreting the results of quantitative analyses which aim at measuring constructs such as perceived risk, cognitive dissonance (CD), satisfaction and arousal on a higher level of abstraction.

Findings show that qualitative and quantitative data not only complement one another but also their interaction provides additional information about the individual consumer decision‐making process. As the longitudinal quantitative analysis shows that CD does not completely dissolve over time and significantly influences the level of satisfaction, complaint behaviour and word‐of‐mouth, additional qualitative data help interpret these findings and derive more effective marketing implications.

Implications for the marketing‐mix of service companies in general and travel agencies in particular are derived. The paper underlines the potential of innovational methodological approaches in marketing research.

The paper introduces a longitudinal mixed‐method approach to collect customer‐focused information relevant for benchmarking purposes of service companies. It contributes to scientific knowledge of decision making in general and CD in particular.

The links between quality and customer satisfaction, retention and loyalty in offline retail settings are well established. It therefore seems fair to posit that quality will also be a determinant of online retailer success. This assumption motivated Wolfinbarger and Gilly to develop a scale for the measurement of “eTail quality”. The paper's purpose is to validate that scale.

The study investigates the equivalence of the eTailQ scale across different product categories in three countries. Tests for both conceptual and psychometric equivalence are conducted.

Findings suggest that eTailQ exhibits conceptual equivalence. It also exhibits psychometric equivalence by providing acceptable levels of reliability, variance extracted and both discriminant and nomological validity.

eTailQ can be used with confidence by online goods and service retailers in English speaking countries outside the USA.

Extant international marketing enquiry has been widely criticised for lacking scope and ambition. Typically, empirical investigations have involved single market studies employing quantitative methods and survey techniques. Consequently, researchers have been challenged to embrace greater methodological pluralism and broaden their geographical perspectives. This contribution posits that new information communication technologies (ICT), particularly the internet, can significantly improve the robustness of qualitative and mixed‐method international marketing research.

The paper describes and evaluates the application of ICT in a recent cross‐national enquiry into rapidly internationalising small firms. Online sources were used to gather information on 218 internationalising small firms, in Australia, Canada, Ireland and New Zealand. An e‐mail instrument was then administered to verify this data and address information gaps, resulting in 143 usable responses, evenly distributed across locations. Key emerging themes were identified and a representative sub‐sample of 53 firms was selected for further in‐depth investigation via face‐to‐face interviews with CEOs.

The authors contend that such technologies can help to refine sample identification and selection procedures, improve response rates and encourage greater respondent “buy‐in” to depth interviews. They also lead to much more targeted lines of enquiry during depth interviews by identifying key research themes and issues, thus enhancing the depth and richness of the insights obtained.

The paper concludes that novel ICT‐enabled research approaches as described herein are particularly effective because, compared to conventional survey methods, they are more user friendly and better received by subjects.

Multiple environmental behaviors will need to be adopted if climate change is to be addressed, yet current environmental decision-making models explain the adoption of single behaviors only. The purpose of this paper is to address this issue by developing and evaluating a decision-making model that explains the co-adoption, or coaction, of multiple environmental behaviors.

To test its cross-national utility, the model was assessed separately among online survey panel respondents from three countries: Australia (n=502), the UK (n=500), and the USA (n=501). In total, three environmental behaviors were examined: sourcing electricity from a green energy provider, purchasing green products, and public transport use. For each behavioral pair, participants were grouped according to whether they had enacted coaction (performed both behaviors), some action (performed either behavior), or no action (performed neither behavior).

Irrespective of national sample and behavioral pair, those who engaged in coaction perceived greater personal benefits from reducing their CO₂ emissions than those who enacted some action or no action. Moreover, perceived consumer effectiveness was typically greater among coaction participants than those in the no action group. Finally, perceived consumer effectiveness did not differ among those who had enacted coaction or some action.

The current findings suggest that personal benefits and perceived consumer effectiveness are important motivational antecedents for the decision to engage in environmental coaction. International commercial or social marketing campaigns aimed at encouraging the adoption of multiple environmental behaviors should therefore seek to leverage these motivational factors.

This paper seeks to explore how moderation can and should be modeled in cross‐national/cultural contexts. A multi‐national study of consumer involvement is utilized to demonstrate proper methods for modeling the different types of moderation.

Using data from a consumer survey regarding wine purchasing preferences conducted in Australia, New Zealand and the USA, the paper demonstrates how to identify moderators of form and of strength. A form moderator is modeled using multiplicative interactions while a strength moderator is modeled using multi‐group analyses in structural equation modeling (SEM). Differences in consumers across the three countries are examined from the results.

This study suggests that search behavior is positively influenced by involvement in New Zealand and the USA but not in Australia. It also shows that perceived risk of occasion decreases involvement in all three countries, while partial support for the positive effects of importance of tradition on involvement is found. Furthermore, “perceived risk of occasion,” identified as a moderator of form, is found to significantly moderate the relationship between importance of tradition and involvement in the US sample only. Finally, the results demonstrate significant differences across the three samples in relationships among importance of tradition, perceived risk of occasion, involvement, and search behavior, indicating that the country variable has significant moderator effects.

Understanding form vs strength moderation is important when evaluating multi‐national/cultural differences so that proper methodology can be utilized. This paper provides international marketing researchers with guidelines on how to model interactions and multi‐group comparisons using SEM.

This paper aims at contributing to the conceptual and methodological advancement of international marketing research.

The theory of social representations is utilized to study what the representatives of a certain culture think of objects and products; which values they associate with these, which norms they follow, and in general how they view the world.

Triangulation was employed to facilitate researchers' access to the social representations approach. Six focus group discussions were conducted combined with a free association instrument answered by a sample of 250 respondents. The empirical study began from a social constructionist perspective. Findings showed that several conceptual and functional aspects of a technological innovation (m‐commerce services) are idiosyncratic to particular groups, reflecting the group's societal affiliation and position.

A translation problem prevails when dealing with specific words from cross‐cultural research and the similarity of concepts must be considered when translating free associations in the course of international research. Other methodologies were only conceptually presented but not empirically used. Visual approaches such as pictorial instruments or ethnographical tools should be applied in future research.

The results provide a solid basis for international marketing research and suggestions for expanding the current study into international marketing research are provided.