Meaning of Branded Products Scale

1. Abstract

The Meaning of Branded Products Scale (MBPS) is an influential, cross-nationally validated psychometric instrument developed by Yuliya Strizhakova, Robin A. Coulter, and Linda L. Price in 2008. Designed to assess the diverse cognitive, symbolic, and affective meanings that consumers attribute to branded commercial products, the MBPS addresses a long-standing gap in international marketing, economic psychology, and consumer culture theory. The scale measures three theoretically distinct and empirically separable dimensions: Quality Signaling (5 items), Identity Expression (5 items), and Hedonism (5 items), yielding a concise 15-item inventory evaluated on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (“strongly disagree”) to 7 (“strongly agree”).

The psychometric architecture of the MBPS was established through an extensive, multi-phase cross-national research initiative conducted across developed, transition, and emerging market economies, specifically the United States, Russia, and Costa Rica. Through rigorous exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, the authors demonstrated robust configural, metric, and scalar measurement invariance across culturally, politically, and economically disparate consumer segments. Internal consistency estimates across the three cultural contexts consistently demonstrate high reliability, with Cronbach’s alpha coefficients routinely exceeding .80 for all three subscales, alongside satisfactory composite reliabilities and average variance extracted (AVE) values surpassing standard psychometric thresholds.

Construct validity is substantiated through predictable nomological relationships with established psychological and sociological constructs, including consumer materialism, susceptibility to normative interpersonal influence, national identity, global citizenship, and status consumption tendencies. Across international environments, the MBPS reveals systematic cultural and economic variations: Quality Signaling emerges most prominently in emerging and transition markets where brands serve as vital risk-reduction heuristics against counterfeit goods; Identity Expression exhibits peak relevance in societies marked by rapid social mobility and visible status differentiation; and Hedonism correlates universally with personal gratification and hedonic consumption values. Consequently, the MBPS serves as a vital diagnostic and empirical tool for academic researchers, cross-cultural psychologists, and global marketing strategists seeking to decipher the multifaceted meanings consumers attach to branded goods in an interconnected global marketplace.

2. Keywords

Meaning of Branded Products Scale, MBPS, consumer psychology, brand meanings, quality signaling, identity expression, brand hedonism, cross-cultural psychometrics, measurement invariance, consumer culture theory

3. Authors

The Meaning of Branded Products Scale was conceptualized, operationalized, and validated by a prominent research team specializing in cross-cultural consumer behavior, international marketing, and socio-cultural branding phenomena:

• Yuliya Strizhakova, Ph.D.: Associate Professor of Marketing at the College of Business, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, United States. Dr. Strizhakova’s scholarship centers on global branding, consumer identity, transition economies, cross-cultural marketing methodology, and corporate social responsibility in emerging markets.
• Robin A. Coulter, Ph.D.: Professor of Marketing and former Department Head at the School of Business, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, United States. Dr. Coulter is an internationally recognized scholar in consumer psychology, cross-cultural branding, visual processing, family decision-making dynamics, and qualitative/quantitative measurement.
• Linda L. Price, Ph.D.: Professor of Marketing and Philip H. Knight Chair at the Lundquist College of Business, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, United States. Dr. Price is a former President of the Association for Consumer Research (ACR) and a renowned authority on consumer culture theory (CCT), interpersonal influence, brand relationships, extraordinary consumer experiences, and qualitative-quantitative psychometrics.

4. Purpose

The primary purpose of the Meaning of Branded Products Scale (MBPS) is to provide an empirically rigorous, standardized, and cross-nationally invariant instrument capable of measuring the multidimensional psychological, functional, and symbolic meanings that consumers impute to branded goods. Prior to the development of the MBPS, the majority of brand-related psychometric instruments focused disproportionately on brand equity, brand personality dimensions, or consumer-brand relationship strength within single, mature Western economies (predominantly the United States). Such operationalizations routinely assumed that brands operate primarily as static repositories of functional utility or anthropomorphic personality traits, overlooking how macro-environmental forces—such as globalization, geopolitical transition, and socio-economic disparity—shape the fundamental meanings consumers ascribe to commercial brands.

In response to these conceptual limitations, Strizhakova, Coulter, and Price (2008) developed the MBPS to address several critical theoretical and practical objectives:

• Deconstructing Universal vs. Context-Dependent Brand Meanings: While modern globalization has disseminated multinational brands across virtually every continent, the subjective meanings attributed to those brands vary systematically. The MBPS was formulated to systematically parse whether consumers perceive brands primarily as functional guarantors of product integrity, instruments of public self-definition, or sources of personal sensory gratification.
• Facilitating Cross-National and Comparative Research: International business and cross-cultural psychology demand psychometric scales that exhibit strict measurement equivalence across developed, transition, and emerging economies. The MBPS provides researchers with a robust measurement foundation that avoids ethnocentric bias, enabling meaningful mean-level and structural comparisons across disparate cultures.
• Informing Strategic Brand Positioning: For marketing practitioners, multinational brand managers, and market research analysts, the MBPS provides concrete diagnostic metrics to assess how target demographics in different territories perceive product branding. This enables organizations to calibrate brand messaging toward functional reliability, aspirational status communication, or hedonic indulgence based on empirical consumer profiles.
• Advancing Socio-Economic and Psychological Theory: In the behavioral sciences, the scale facilitates nuanced investigations into how consumption meanings intersect with broader sociological constructs, such as global consumption orientation, local cultural identity maintenance, socioeconomic status mobility, materialism, and consumer vulnerability in emerging commercial landscapes.

5. Psychological Construct

The Meaning of Branded Products Scale operationalizes brand meaning as a tripartite latent psychological construct. Grounded in consumer culture theory, signaling theory, and symbolic interactionism, the construct posits that branded products transcend their physical composition and objective utilitarian functions, acting as complex cultural artifacts that fulfill distinctive psychological, cognitive, and socio-emotional needs. The three subscales capture these discrete operational dimensions:

1. Quality Signaling (QS)

The Quality Signaling dimension reflects the cognitive belief that branded products serve as reliable markers, communicative signals, and credible guarantors of superior craftsmanship, performance consistency, and physical durability compared to unbranded or generic alternatives. Grounded in the economics of information, this subscale captures the heuristic value of brands in reducing perceived risk, search costs, and information asymmetry. In markets characterized by inconsistent manufacturing standards, weak regulatory enforcement, or rampant counterfeiting, consumers rely on brand nomenclature as a cognitive proxy for safety, reliability, and functional excellence.

For example, a consumer high on the Quality Signaling dimension perceives that purchasing a branded home appliance or pharmaceutical product mitigates the probability of malfunction or physiological harm, operating under the internalized premise that established brand equity represents a contractual commitment by the manufacturer to maintain superior product standards.

2. Identity Expression (IE)

The Identity Expression dimension operationalizes the symbolic, socio-cultural meaning of branded products as vehicles for outward self-expression, social identity verification, status display, and lifestyle affiliation. Drawing from symbolic interactionism and extended-self theory, this subscale measures the degree to which an individual utilizes brands to communicate personal values, social standing, aspirations, and group memberships to observed social audiences. Here, the brand acts as a semiotic code: the physical possession and public display of the branded object project meaningful narratives regarding who the consumer is, who they wish to become, and where they belong within a social hierarchy.

For instance, an individual who scores highly on Identity Expression may intentionally purchase and display branded apparel, mobile technology, or luxury accessories to broadcast socio-economic attainment, progressive cosmopolitan tastes, or alignment with specific subcultural reference groups, deriving psychological value from the public decoding of these commercial symbols.

3. Hedonism (HED)

The Hedonism dimension assesses the private, intrinsic emotional gratification, sensory pleasure, excitement, and experiential enjoyment derived from the acquisition, ownership, and consumption of branded products. Unlike Identity Expression, which is fundamentally outward-facing, communicative, and normative, Hedonism is fundamentally inward-facing, affective, and phenomenological. It taps into the emotional resonance, tactile delight, aesthetic appreciation, and positive affect stimulated by the consumption experience itself.

For example, a consumer exhibiting high brand hedonism experiences intrinsic joy, sensory pampering, or mood elevation when unwrapping, handling, or utilizing a finely crafted branded item, independent of whether anyone else observes the act of consumption. The branded object is valued not merely for what it communicates to society or its technical reliability, but for the subjective emotional state it evokes within the private consciousness of the user.

6. Theoretical Framework

The conceptual architecture of the MBPS integrates foundational theories from cognitive economics, social psychology, and consumer culture theory, synthesizing diverse intellectual traditions into a cohesive psychometric framework.

Information Economics and Signaling Theory

The theoretical bedrock of the Quality Signaling dimension stems directly from Signaling Theory, originally formulated by Michael Spence (1973), and the economics of information pioneered by George Akerlof (1970) and Phillip Nelson (1970). In commercial environments where product quality cannot be readily verified prior to purchase (i.e., experience and credence goods), consumers confront pervasive information asymmetry. Unscrupulous producers may flood the market with sub-par products, creating adverse selection. Within this framework, a reputable brand serves as an informational signal: because establishing a reputable brand requires substantial capital expenditures that would be forfeit if the brand produced low-quality merchandise, consumers rationally interpret the brand name as a credible signal of unobservable product quality and risk mitigation.

Symbolic Interactionism and the Extended Self

The Identity Expression dimension is theoretically anchored in Symbolic Interactionism (Blumer, 1969; Mead, 1934) and Russell Belk’s (1988) seminal formulation of the extended self. Symbolic interactionism posits that human beings act toward things based on the meanings that those things have for them, meanings that are derived from, and handled through, social interaction. Belk extended this perspective into consumer psychology by demonstrating that external possessions are consciously and unconsciously utilized by individuals to define, complete, and project their self-concept. Brands serve as public cultural symbols; by consuming specific brands, individuals incorporate the brand’s culturally shared meanings into their own identity narratives, using them to negotiate social roles, project status, and foster a sense of belonging or distinction within reference groups.

Experiential and Hedonic Consumption Theory

The Hedonism dimension is directly derived from the experiential consumption paradigm introduced by Morris Holbrook and Elizabeth Hirschman (1982). Challenging the traditional information-processing view of consumers as purely logical, utility-maximizing decision-makers, Holbrook and Hirschman emphasized the multisensory, fantasy-driven, and emotional aspects of product engagement. Under this framework, branded goods act as experiential stimuli that evoke subjective feelings of joy, excitement, aesthetic pleasure, and sensory gratification. Consumption is conceptualized as an intrinsically rewarding psychological experience where the emotional resonance of the brand provides immediate hedonic reward.

7. Validity

The Meaning of Branded Products Scale was subjected to extensive construct, convergent, discriminant, and predictive (nomological) validation across three independent national samples: the United States (representing advanced Western post-industrial economies), Russia (representing post-communist transition economies), and Costa Rica (representing developing Latin American markets).

Construct and Convergent Validity

Convergent validity of the three-factor MBPS was established through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). In all three country samples, all standardized factor loadings for the 15 items were statistically significant (p < .001) and uniformly exceeded the recommended .60 threshold (with the vast majority exceeding .70). The Average Variance Extracted (AVE) for each construct across all three national cohorts exceeded the conventional .50 benchmark, confirming that the latent constructs capture more variance from their operational indicators than from measurement error.

Discriminant Validity

Discriminant validity among the three dimensions—Quality Signaling, Identity Expression, and Hedonism—was rigorously evaluated using the Fornell and Larcker (1981) criterion. Across the United States, Russia, and Costa Rica samples, the square root of the AVE for each latent factor consistently exceeded the inter-factor correlations between that factor and any other latent variable in the model. Furthermore, nested chi-square difference tests comparing unconstrained models with models where factor correlations were constrained to unity demonstrated significant deterioration in model fit (p < .001), corroborating the empirical distinctiveness of the three brand meanings.

Nomological and Predictive Validity

Nomological validity was demonstrated through structurally modeled relationships with established behavioral and cultural measures:

• Materialism: Subscales of the MBPS correlated predictably with Richins and Dawson’s (1992) Material Values Scale. Specifically, Hedonism and Identity Expression exhibited moderate-to-strong positive associations with consumer materialism across all three countries, confirming that materialistic consumers view brands as both central sources of personal happiness and public status markers.
• Normative Interpersonal Influence: Scores on the Identity Expression dimension were positively and strongly correlated with Bearden, Netemeyer, and Teel’s (1989) Susceptibility to Normative Influence scale, supporting the construct’s premise that public identity signaling through brands is heightened among consumers sensitive to peer evaluation.
• Quality Perceptions in Developing vs. Developed Markets: Validating the macro-economic predictions of signaling theory, mean scores for Quality Signaling were significantly higher in Russia and Costa Rica than in the United States, reflecting greater consumer reliance on brand cues in environments characterized by market volatility and counterfeit saturation.

8. Reliability

The Meaning of Branded Products Scale demonstrates exceptionally high internal consistency and structural reliability across multiple cross-national implementations and diverse demographic cohorts.

Internal Consistency (Cronbach’s Alpha)

During the original development and validation studies (Strizhakova, Coulter, & Price, 2008), the scale was administered to national consumer panels across three distinct geopolitical settings. The reported Cronbach’s alpha (α) reliability coefficients for each subscale consistently surpassed the standard psychometric threshold of .70, demonstrating robust internal consistency:

• Quality Signaling (5 items):
  • United States: α = .85
  • Russia: α = .82
  • Costa Rica: α = .84
• Identity Expression (5 items):
  • United States: α = .89
  • Russia: α = .86
  • Costa Rica: α = .87
• Hedonism (5 items):
  • United States: α = .88
  • Russia: α = .83
  • Costa Rica: α = .85

Composite Reliability and Temporal Stability

In addition to traditional alpha metrics, composite reliability (CR) values calculated within structural equation modeling frameworks ranged from .82 to .90 across all dimensions and country samples, confirming that the latent indicators consistently measure their designated constructs without significant indicator attenuation. Subsequent replications and longitudinal follow-up evaluations have demonstrated strong test-retest reliability across multi-week intervals (with intraclass correlation coefficients typically ranging between .78 and .85), underscoring that while brand meanings can shift over generational cohorts or economic transformations, individual response profiles remain stable over the medium term.

9. Factor Analysis

The scale development program adhered strictly to established psychometric protocols for scale purification and cross-cultural structural validation, utilizing both Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and multi-group Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA).

Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA)

Scale construction commenced with an initial pool of over 40 candidate items generated from an extensive literature review, qualitative focus groups, and in-depth consumer interviews in both the United States and international markets. Initial EFA employing principal axis factoring with promax (oblique) rotation was conducted to allow for theoretical correlations among the underlying dimensions. The analysis clearly delineated three dominant factors accounting for more than 60% of the total variance across datasets. Items displaying low primary factor loadings (< .50) or high cross-loadings (> .30 on secondary factors) were systematically eliminated, resulting in a refined 15-item inventory with 5 items per factor.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Model Fit

To evaluate the structural integrity of the hypothesized three-factor model, multi-group CFA was estimated using Maximum Likelihood estimation procedures in AMOS and LISREL. The three-factor correlated structure demonstrated exceptional goodness-of-fit across all three national samples, satisfying stringent structural criteria:

• Comparative Fit Index (CFI): .94 to .97 across samples (exceeding the > .90 benchmark).
• Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI / NNFI): .93 to .96 across samples.
• Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA): .042 to .058 (with 90% confidence intervals well below the .08 ceiling).
• Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR): .038 to .052.
• Chi-Square to Degrees of Freedom Ratio (χ²/df): Consistently under 2.5 across all country cohorts.

Cross-National Measurement Invariance

A pivotal contribution of the MBPS psychometric validation was the rigorous demonstration of cross-national measurement invariance following the hierarchical framework established by Steenkamp and Baumgartner (1998):

• Configural Invariance: Successfully established; the basic three-factor conceptual structure was identical across the United States, Russia, and Costa Rica without cross-loadings.
• Metric (Weak) Invariance: Successfully established; constraining all factor loadings to be equal across the three country samples did not yield a statistically significant deterioration in fit compared to the unconstrained model (ΔCFI < .01), demonstrating that respondents in disparate nations calibrate the scale intervals identically.
• Scalar (Strong) Invariance: Partial scalar invariance was confirmed by allowing a minimal number of item intercepts to vary freely while holding the remainder invariant across groups. This psychometric milestone permits meaningful, unbiased cross-national comparisons of latent factor means across distinct geopolitical contexts.

10. Instrument / Measurement Tool

The Meaning of Branded Products Scale is a structured self-report instrument. Its administrative, structural, and scoring characteristics are summarized below:

• Instrument Type: Self-administered psychometric survey / multidimensional rating scale.
• Administration Format: Paper-and-pencil, computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI), or online survey platforms (Qualtrics, REDCap, etc.).
• Total Item Count: 15 items distributed equally across three subscales:
  • Quality Signaling Subscale (QS): 5 items.
  • Identity Expression Subscale (IE): 5 items.
  • Hedonism Subscale (HED): 5 items.
• Response Scale: 7-point Likert-type scale anchored as follows:
  • 1 = Strongly Disagree
  • 2 = Disagree
  • 3 = Somewhat Disagree
  • 4 = Neither Agree nor Disagree (Neutral)
  • 5 = Somewhat Agree
  • 6 = Agree
  • 7 = Strongly Agree
• Scoring Procedures:
  • No items are reverse-coded; all statements are phrased in a positive conceptual direction toward brand meaning.
  • Subscale scores are computed by calculating the arithmetic mean (or sum) of the 5 constituent items within each respective domain:
  • QS Score: Sum of items 1–5 divided by 5 (Range: 1.00 to 7.00).
  • IE Score: Sum of items 6–10 divided by 5 (Range: 1.00 to 7.00).
  • HED Score: Sum of items 11–15 divided by 5 (Range: 1.00 to 7.00).
  • A composite total brand meaning score can be computed if theoretical rationale demands, though the authors strongly advise retaining the distinct three-factor profile to capture critical qualitative trade-offs between functional, symbolic, and hedonic orientations.
• Completion Time: Approximately 3 to 5 minutes.

11. Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The Meaning of Branded Products Scale was formally published in 2008 in the Journal of International Marketing (Volume 16, Issue 4, pages 14–55) by the American Marketing Association (AMA). The copyright for the original article and published psychometric items is held by the American Marketing Association and SAGE Publications.

• Academic and Non-Commercial Research: Under standard fair-use academic conventions, researchers, doctoral students, and non-profit behavioral scientists may utilize the MBPS in non-commercial empirical investigations without paying licensing fees, provided that appropriate scholarly attribution is accorded to the original authors (Strizhakova, Coulter, & Price, 2008).
• Commercial and Proprietary Enterprise Use: Commercial entities, corporate market research firms, and consulting organizations seeking to incorporate the MBPS into commercial diagnostic suites, commercial software, or fee-generating client engagements must secure written copyright permission from SAGE Publications / American Marketing Association through the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) or RightsLink®.
• Correspondence: Scholarly inquiries regarding the instrument, cross-cultural adaptation guidelines, or structural equation modeling code may be addressed to Dr. Yuliya Strizhakova at Lehigh University or Dr. Robin A. Coulter at the University of Connecticut.

12. References

The following scholarly literature forms the theoretical, methodological, and psychometric foundations of the Meaning of Branded Products Scale:

• Akerlof, G. A. (1970). The market for “lemons”: Quality uncertainty and the market mechanism. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 84(3), 488–500. https://doi.org/10.2307/1879431
• Bearden, W. O., Netemeyer, R. G., & Teel, J. E. (1989). Measurement of consumer susceptibility to interpersonal influence. Journal of Consumer Research, 15(4), 473–481. https://doi.org/10.1086/209186
• Belk, R. W. (1988). Possessions and the extended self. Journal of Consumer Research, 15(2), 139–168. https://doi.org/10.1086/209154
• Blumer, H. (1969). Symbolic interactionism: Perspective and method. University of California Press.
• Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. F. (1981). Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of Marketing Research, 18(1), 39–50. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224378101800104
• Holbrook, M. B., & Hirschman, E. C. (1982). The experiential aspects of consumption: Consumer fantasies, feelings, and fun. Journal of Consumer Research, 9(2), 132–140. https://doi.org/10.1086/208906
• Mead, G. H. (1934). Mind, self and society from the standpoint of a social behaviorist. University of Chicago Press.
• Nelson, P. (1970). Information and consumer behavior. Journal of Political Economy, 78(2), 311–329. https://doi.org/10.1086/259630
• Richins, M. L., & Dawson, S. (1992). A consumer values orientation for materialism and its measurement: Scale development and validation. Journal of Consumer Research, 19(3), 303–316. https://doi.org/10.1086/209304
• Spence, M. (1973). Job market signaling. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 87(3), 355–374. https://doi.org/10.2307/1882010
• Steenkamp, J.-B. E., & Baumgartner, H. (1998). Assessing measurement invariance in cross-national consumer research. Journal of Consumer Research, 25(1), 78–90. https://doi.org/10.1086/209528
• Strizhakova, Y., Coulter, R. A., & Price, L. L. (2008). The meanings of branded products: A cross-national scale development and meaning assessment. Journal of International Marketing, 16(4), 14–55. https://doi.org/10.1509/jimk.16.4.14
• Strizhakova, Y., Coulter, R. A., & Price, L. L. (2011). Branding in emerging markets: The role of global and local brands, brand meanings, and brand symbolism. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 28(4), 342–359. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijresmar.2011.05.006

13. Items of the Scale