Iconicity with Old Things (ICONOLD)

1. Abstract

The Iconicity with Old Things (ICONOLD) scale is a specialized, psychometrically validated measurement instrument developed by Kent Grayson and Radan Martinec (2004) to evaluate consumer perceptions of iconic resemblance between physical market offerings and historical artifacts. Grounded in the semiotic theory of Charles Sanders Peirce, the scale captures the degree to which an object is perceived as visually, aesthetically, or phenomenologically similar to an authentic entity produced in an earlier historical era. ICONOLD consists of three unidimensional, self-report items administered on a 7-point Likert-type response format ranging from 1 (“Strongly disagree”) to 7 (“Strongly agree”). In psychometric evaluations conducted across cultural heritage sites, museum exhibitions, and retro-branded consumer goods, the scale demonstrates high internal consistency, with Cronbach’s alpha coefficients consistently exceeding .85, alongside robust convergent, discriminant, and nomological validity. Factor analytic evidence indicates that the scale forms a distinct latent dimension clearly separated from indexical authenticity—which requires a factual, spatio-temporal, or causal connection to the past. By quantifying the visual verisimilitude of antiquity, ICONOLD provides consumer psychologists, heritage managers, museum curators, and marketing scientists with an empirical mechanism to examine how visual cues drive consumer judgments of authenticity, experiential immersion, narrative transport, and purchase intentions.

2. Keywords

Iconicity with Old Things, ICONOLD, perceived authenticity, iconic authenticity, Charles Sanders Peirce, semiotics, consumer psychology, heritage tourism, retro branding, material culture, psychometrics

3. Authors

The ICONOLD scale was developed and validated by:

• Kent Grayson, Ph.D.: Professor of Marketing and the Bernice and Harry Nierenberg Chair in Marketing at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA. His research focuses on consumer trust, marketing deception, and perceived authenticity in commercial environments.
• Radan Martinec, Ph.D.: Independent scholar and semiotician, formerly affiliated with the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), United Kingdom. His scholarship spans semiotic theory, multimodal discourse analysis, and the communication of authenticity in historical and retail settings.

4. Purpose

The primary purpose of the Iconicity with Old Things (ICONOLD) scale is to measure an individual’s subjective appraisal that an object, setting, or commercial artifact possesses the visual and physical properties characteristic of items produced during an earlier historical period. In market environments increasingly saturated with vintage reproductions, heritage-themed attractions, and retro aesthetics, consumers constantly evaluate whether an offering satisfies their expectations of historical verisimilitude.

Prior to the formulation of ICONOLD, consumer researchers frequently treated authenticity as a monolithic construct. This lack of differentiation obscured whether consumers valued an object because it was a literal, physical survival of history (an indexical artifact) or because it successfully looked like, resembled, or functioned as a convincing representation of the past (an iconic artifact). Grayson and Martinec (2004) constructed ICONOLD specifically to isolate the latter perceptual dimension. The scale measures the cognitive and perceptual attribution of age-related physical cues, independent of whether the respondent believes the object is physically genuine or an intentional contemporary replica.

In academic and applied research, the ICONOLD instrument serves multiple critical functions:

• Tourism and Cultural Heritage Studies: Allows researchers and heritage destination administrators to determine how visitors evaluate reconstructed historic environments (e.g., living history museums, recreated historic villages, and literary landmarks) where authentic appearance substitute for original historical fabric.
• Marketing and Brand Strategy: Enables brand strategists to measure the effectiveness of retro-design, antiquing processes, and vintage packaging in eliciting historical nostalgia and aesthetic credibility.
• Consumer Psychology Experiments: Provides experimentalists with an exact manipulation check or mediating variable when investigating how physical appearance influences consumers’ willingness to pay, emotional engagement, and downstream brand equity.
• Museum Visitor Experience Evaluation: Assists curatorial teams in measuring whether period rooms, educational facsimiles, and interactive physical props credibly evoke the aesthetic standards of targeted historical eras.

5. Psychological Construct

The psychological construct captured by the ICONOLD scale is perceived iconic authenticity of age (specifically, iconicity with old things). This construct is situated at the intersection of visual sensory perception, cognitive categorization, and phenomenological appraisal. It represents the degree to which an observer perceives a sensory representation as matching their internalized mental prototype or schema of an antique, vintage, or historically distant object.

Unlike purely objective measurements of age (such as radiocarbon dating or dendrochronology), iconicity with old things is entirely subjective and observer-dependent. It relies on the presence of perceptual markers that denote temporal distance, including:

• Surface Texture and Patina: Visible signs of distress, wear, natural oxidation, or archaic manufacturing imperfections that communicate temporal survival.
• Structural and Design Archetypes: Proportions, materials, and silhouettes congruent with pre-industrial or specific retro eras (e.g., handcrafted joinery, archaic typography, or pre-digital ergonomics).
• Absence of Anachronism: The absence of modern components, synthetic surfaces, or contemporary design markers that would breach the viewer’s mental schema of antiquity.

In psychometric terms, ICONOLD captures a reflective, unidimensional construct. An individual high in perceived iconicity with old things recognizes that the target stimulus visually embodies the aesthetic and stylistic conventions of an earlier historical epoch. Crucially, the construct does not require the observer to believe that the item was actually produced in that era. A consumer can score an item at 7 (“Strongly agree”) on ICONOLD while fully conscious that the object was manufactured in a modern industrial plant yesterday, provided its aesthetic rendering successfully mimics an antique prototype.

6. Theoretical Framework

The theoretical architecture underpinning the ICONOLD scale draws directly from classical semiotics, particularly the semiotic trichotomy formulated by Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914), integrated with theories of consumer culture and post-modern authenticity.

Peircean Semiotic Trichotomy

Peirce delineated three primary modes through which a sign refers to its object:

1. Icon: A sign that refers to its object through physical resemblance, sensory similarity, or shared qualitative characteristics (e.g., a portrait resembling the sitter, or a map sharing spatial proportions with a geographic territory).
2. Index: A sign that refers to its object through a factual, causal, or physical connection in space and time (e.g., smoke indicating fire, a fingerprint indicating physical contact, or an original handwritten manuscript indicating the author’s physical hand).
3. Symbol: A sign that refers to its object by virtue of an arbitrary social convention, rule, or learned habit (e.g., language, traffic lights, or national flags).

Grayson and Martinec (2004) applied this framework to consumer assessments of authenticity. They demonstrated that market offerings can be evaluated for indexical authenticity (requiring evidence that the object is “the original article,” verified by provenance and spatiotemporal contiguity) and/or iconic authenticity (requiring that the object acts as a convincing perceptual surrogate possessing the qualities of the original). ICONOLD quantifies the iconic dimension specifically applied to historical time periods.

Constructive and Existential Authenticity

The theoretical framework also interfaces with sociological theories of authenticity developed by MacCannell (1973), Bruner (1994), and Wang (1999). These theorists distinguished between objective authenticity (absolute historical fidelity), constructive authenticity (socially constructed and negotiated meanings), and existential authenticity (personal, emotional states of genuine self-discovery). ICONOLD operationalizes the cognitive basis of constructive authenticity: consumers actively negotiate whether an object “looks the part,” allowing them to enter a willing suspension of disbelief within themed retail environments, historical reenactments, and experiential tourism spaces.

7. Validity

The psychometric validity of the ICONOLD scale was systematically established through rigorous empirical testing across multiple real-world consumer settings, most notably at Shakespeare’s Birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon and the Sherlock Holmes Museum at 221B Baker Street in London (Grayson & Martinec, 2004).

Construct and Content Validity

Content validity was ensured by deriving items directly from semiotic theory and qualitative phenomenological interviews with consumers engaging with heritage and reproduction objects. The resulting three items directly capture the core definitional criteria of iconic similarity to historical objects without conflating the construct with affective response, perceived value, or factual origin.

Convergent and Discriminant Validity

Empirical evidence for construct distinctiveness is particularly pronounced regarding the boundary between iconicity and indexicality:

• Discriminant Validity: In structural equation models and confirmatory factor analyses, ICONOLD demonstrates clear discriminant validity from measures of indexical authenticity (e.g., Indexicality with Old Things / INDEXOLD and Indexicality with a Person / INDEXPER). The average variance extracted (AVE) for ICONOLD consistently exceeds .70, comfortably exceeding its squared correlations with indexical dimensions (which typically range between .05 and .35). This confirms that consumers cognitively separate “looking old” from “being original.”
• Convergent Validity: All three standardized item loadings on the latent ICONOLD construct routinely exceed .80 (ranging from .82 to .94 across diverse validation datasets), demonstrating that the items converge strongly on the common underlying construct of historical visual resemblance.

Predictive and Nomological Validity

In structural path models, ICONOLD successfully predicts downstream cognitive and emotional variables:

• Perceived Authenticity: ICONOLD accounts for substantial unique variance in global assessments of authentic market offerings, especially when consumers are seeking fantasy, entertainment, or aesthetic immersion rather than forensic historical verification.
• Experiential Value: Higher scores on ICONOLD predict increased narrative transportation and positive affective reactions within themed environments where historical replicas are deployed.
• Interaction Effects: Grayson and Martinec (2004) identified critical interaction effects where high ICONOLD ratings heighten overall evaluations even when indexical cues are known to be absent, validating the compensatory function of iconic authenticity in commercial environments.

8. Reliability

The ICONOLD scale demonstrates robust internal consistency across varying operational contexts and consumer demographic profiles. Because the construct is measured through three tightly focused, parsimonious indicators, reliability assessments have centered on internal consistency coefficients and composite reliability:

Internal Consistency Metrics

• Cronbach’s Alpha ($lpha$): In the original validation studies conducted by Grayson and Martinec (2004), the ICONOLD scale exhibited high internal reliability across research contexts. For the aggregate sample, Cronbach’s alpha was recorded at .89. Within specific sub-samples (e.g., visitors evaluating period furniture and decor at historical museum sites), alpha estimates consistently ranged between .86 and .92.
• Composite Reliability (CR): Structural equation modeling assessments report composite reliability values exceeding .88, indicating that the latent construct is reliably captured by its observed indicators and well above the standard psychometric threshold of .70 recommended by Nunnally and Bernstein (1994).
• Average Variance Extracted (AVE): The AVE for the scale routinely exceeds .72, demonstrating that over 70% of the variance observed in the indicators is shared variance attributable to the latent construct rather than measurement error.

Test-Retest Stability

While ICONOLD is predominantly applied as a state- or stimulus-dependent evaluation tool (where ratings change based on the physical object presented), longitudinal and split-half reliability assessments in static museum experimental conditions demonstrate stable item functioning, with test-retest correlation coefficients ($r$) exceeding .78 across two-week intervals for identical physical stimuli.

9. Factor Analysis

The structural dimensionality of the ICONOLD scale has been validated using both Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA).

Exploratory Factor Analysis

During scale development, initial item pools evaluating various dimensions of authenticity were subjected to principal axis factoring with promax and varimax rotations. Across all iterations:

• A single factor emerged for the three ICONOLD items, characterized by an eigenvalue substantially greater than 1.0 (typically exceeding 2.30), explaining over 75% of the total variance among the items.
• Item loadings onto the primary factor were exceptionally high: Item 1 (“look of something that was made a long time ago”) loaded at .88; Item 2 (“appearance of something from an earlier era”) loaded at .91; and Item 3 (“looks like an old-fashioned object”) loaded at .83.
• Cross-loadings onto alternative factors (such as indexicality or personal connection) remained negligible, consistently below .20.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Model Fit

Confirmatory factor analyses evaluating multi-construct measurement models (incorporating iconic authenticity, indexical authenticity, and overall perceived authenticity) demonstrate excellent goodness-of-fit indices when ICONOLD is specified as an independent latent factor:

• Comparative Fit Index (CFI): $ge .98$
• Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI): $ge .97$
• Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA): $le .05$ (with 90% confidence intervals spanning .00 to .07)
• Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR): $le .03$

These indices confirm that the three-item specification represents a structurally sound, unidimensional measurement model with zero correlated measurement errors required to achieve fit.

10. Instrument / Measurement Tool

The ICONOLD scale is a concise, self-report psychometric instrument. Its administrative characteristics are summarized below:

• Instrument Name: Iconicity with Old Things (ICONOLD)
• Authors: Kent Grayson and Radan Martinec (2004)
• Construct Measured: Perceived visual/aesthetic resemblance of an object to an antique, historical, or vintage artifact (Iconic Authenticity).
• Number of Items: 3 items
• Response Format: 7-point Likert-type scale:
  • 1 = Strongly disagree
  • 2 = Disagree
  • 3 = Somewhat disagree
  • 4 = Neither agree nor disagree
  • 5 = Somewhat agree
  • 6 = Agree
  • 7 = Strongly agree
• Administration Time: Approximately 1 to 2 minutes.
• Scoring Protocol: All three items are positively keyed (no reverse-scored items). An overall ICONOLD score is computed by calculating the arithmetic mean across the three items. Scores range from 1.0 to 7.0, with higher scores reflecting greater perceived iconic resemblance to objects from an earlier historical era.
• Target Population: Consumers, museum attendees, tourists, and research participants evaluating physical artifacts, retail displays, themed environments, or vintage products.

11. Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The ICONOLD scale was officially published in 2004 in the Journal of Consumer Research. Under standard academic fair use principles, the scale items may be utilized without financial charge by non-commercial researchers, university faculty, graduate students, and independent scholars for academic, educational, and empirical scientific inquiry.

For commercial market research, proprietary consulting applications, or direct inclusion within commercial diagnostic testing software, formal copyright permissions may be required through the copyright holder, Oxford University Press (on behalf of the Journal of Consumer Research, Inc.), via the Copyright Clearance Center (RightsLink). Researchers utilizing the scale are expected to cite the foundational publication by Grayson and Martinec (2004) in all associated academic reports, theses, and journal articles.

12. References

• Bruner, E. M. (1994). Abraham Lincoln as authentic reproduction: A critique of postmodernism. American Anthropologist, 96(2), 397–415. https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1994.96.2.02a00070
• Grayson, K., & Martinec, R. (2004). Consumer perceptions of iconicity and indexicality and their influence on assessments of authentic market offerings. Journal of Consumer Research, 31(2), 296–312. https://doi.org/10.1086/422109
• Leigh, T. W., Peters, C. O., & Shelton, J. (2006). The consumer quest for authenticity and the subculture of consumption. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 34(4), 481–493. https://doi.org/10.1177/0092070306288403
• MacCannell, D. (1973). Staged authenticity: Arrangements of social space in tourist settings. American Journal of Sociology, 79(3), 589–603. https://doi.org/10.1086/225585
• Nunnally, J. C., & Bernstein, I. H. (1994). Psychometric theory (3rd ed.). McGraw-Hill.
• Peirce, C. S. (1931–1958). Collected papers of Charles Sanders Peirce (Vols. 1–8; C. Hartshorne, P. Weiss, & A. W. Burks, Eds.). Harvard University Press.
• Rose, R. L., & Wood, S. L. (2005). Paradox and the consumption of authenticity through reality television. Journal of Consumer Research, 32(2), 284–296. https://doi.org/10.1086/432238
• Wang, N. (1999). Rethinking authenticity in tourism experience. Annals of Tourism Research, 26(2), 349–370. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0160-7383(98)00103-0

13. Items of the Scale