Retail Store Patronage Intention Scale (STORPATINT)

1. Abstract

The Retail Store Patronage Intention Scale (STORPATINT) is a concise, three-item psychometric instrument designed to evaluate consumers’ hypothetical willingness and behavioral predispositions toward patronizing a designated retail establishment. Originally adapted and operationalized by Kathrynn R. Pounders, Barry J. Babin, and Angeline G. Close (2015) within the context of frontline service encounters and aesthetic labor, the scale captures three fundamental facets of consumer patronage: transactional willingness (purchasing merchandise), experiential engagement (shopping at the venue), and longitudinal loyalty or revisitation (returning to the establishment). Unlike strict behavioral intention scales that employ definitive future-tense formulations (“will”), the STORPATINT utilizes conditional phrasing (“would”), establishing it as an optimal measure of prospective behavioral orientation, attitude toward the act of shopping, and hypothetical patronage within experimental, scenario-based, and simulated store environments. Administered via a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (“Strongly disagree”) to 7 (“Strongly agree”), the instrument exhibits robust psychometric properties, consistently demonstrating high internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha often exceeding .90, composite reliability > .90), unidimensional structural integrity verified through confirmatory factor analysis, and substantial convergent and predictive validity. This paper provides an exhaustive academic overview of the scale’s theoretical foundations in the Theory of Planned Behavior and the Servicescape model, its psychometric validation, dimensional characteristics, scoring protocols, and broader applications across consumer psychology, retailing, and service management research.

2. Keywords

retail store patronage, patronage intention, consumer behavior, behavioral intention, aesthetic labor, retail psychology, store choice, psychometrics, purchase intention, servicescape

3. Authors

The Retail Store Patronage Intention Scale, as operationalized in retail marketing and service encounter psychology, was established by the following researchers:

• Kathrynn R. Pounders, Ph.D. — Associate Professor of Advertising and Public Relations, Stan Richards School of Advertising & Public Relations, Moody College of Communication, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA. Specializes in consumer psychology, emotional processing, and health communication.
• Barry J. Babin, Ph.D. — Professor of Marketing, Department of Marketing, Culverhouse College of Business, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA (formerly at Louisiana Tech University). Internationally recognized authority in structural equation modeling, customer value, service environments, and psychometric measurement in marketing.
• Angeline Grace Close (Close Scheinbaum), Ph.D. — Associate Professor of Marketing, Department of Marketing, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA. Specializes in event marketing, consumer behavior, digital commerce, and frontline service interactions.

4. Purpose

The primary purpose of the Retail Store Patronage Intention Scale (STORPATINT) is to quantify a consumer’s prospective willingness to engage with, purchase from, and repeatedly visit a retail storefront. In both fundamental and applied consumer psychology, establishing whether an external stimulus—such as frontline employee appearance, ambient music, store layout, brand communication, or promotional framing—exerts a meaningful downstream influence on commercial performance requires a sensitive, valid, and reliable outcome metric. Patronage intentions represent the critical bridge connecting affective evaluations and cognitive appraisals to actual financial transactions and store choice decisions.

From a research perspective, experimental consumer psychologists frequently face a methodological challenge: respondents evaluated in laboratory or online survey conditions often assess hypothetical, manipulated, or simulated retail settings rather than physical stores where they possess immediate, ongoing transactional opportunities. Traditional behavioral intention instruments framed with declarative certainty (e.g., “I will purchase from this store next week”) can introduce demand characteristics or construct misalignment when the subject knows the retailer is fictional or geographically inaccessible. The STORPATINT solves this issue by framing items in the hypothetical conditional mood (“would”). This intentional phrasing captures conditional readiness and general patronage attitude rather than an ungrounded commitment to immediate action, making the instrument ideally suited for scenario-based vignettes, video-based experimental manipulations, 3D virtual retail simulations, and cross-sectional concept testing.

In managerial and consulting applications, the scale functions as an essential diagnostic tool. Retailers undergoing repositioning, interior redesign, or service training overhauls can administer the STORPATINT during prototype testing to gauge prospective customer capture before committing substantial capital expenditures. Furthermore, because the instrument assesses merchandise acquisition, general exploratory shopping, and return behavior within three succinct questions, it minimizes survey fatigue and cognitive burden when embedded within lengthy multi-construct surveys.

5. Psychological Construct

The psychological construct evaluated by the STORPATINT is store patronage intention, conceptualized as a conative manifestation reflecting an individual’s conscious inclination, motivation, and subjective probability of directing their shopping and transactional behavior toward a designated retail entity. Within the broader taxonomy of psychometrics, patronage intention is classified as a conative (behavioral) construct positioned downstream from cognitive evaluations (e.g., perceived quality, store image, price fairness) and affective responses (e.g., store pleasure, emotional arousal, brand attachment).

Although the STORPATINT is structurally unidimensional, it effectively samples three core behavioral facets that collectively define comprehensive retail patronage:

• Transactional Intention (Merchandise Acquisition): Captured by the item “I would buy merchandise at this store,” this facet reflects the ultimate commercial objective of retailing. It assesses the respondent’s willingness to commit financial resources in exchange for the goods offered. It captures economic value exchange and personal product-store congruence.
• Exploratory and Browsing Engagement (Store Shopping): Captured by the item “I would shop at this store,” this dimension measures broader engagement that encompasses experiential, sensory, and recreational activities within the retail space. Shopping represents not merely the terminal act of paying, but the process of browsing, interacting with personnel, examining merchandise, and investing temporal capital within the retail environment.
• Longitudinal Retention and Revisitation (Return Willingness): Captured by the item “I would return to this store,” this facet evaluates post-encounter loyalty and sustained patronage. A consumer might execute an impulse purchase in an unfamiliar environment without holding any intent to re-enter the establishment; by measuring the propensity to return, the scale taps into enduring relationship viability and customer lifetime value.

A critical psycholinguistic distinction highlighted by Pounders et al. (2015) resides in the auxiliary verb “would” versus “will.” While “will” reflects an unconditional behavioral commitment governed by concrete temporal and geographic accessibility, “would” reflects an epistemic modality expressing latent preference and behavioral willingness contingent on opportunity. Consequently, the construct measured here straddles the boundary between a conative attitude (attitude toward the behavioral act) and prospective behavioral intention, shielding the measure against artificial inflation or invalidity when participants evaluate unfamiliar or hypothetical retail concepts.

6. Theoretical Framework

The STORPATINT is rooted in classical and contemporary behavioral frameworks within psychology and marketing, primarily the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) developed by Icek Ajzen, the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) paradigm introduced by Mehrabian and Russell, and the Servicescape framework formulated by Mary Jo Bitner.

The Theory of Reasoned Action and Planned Behavior

According to the Theory of Reasoned Action (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975) and the subsequent Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1991), human behavior is most directly predicted by behavioral intentions. Intentions represent the motivational factors that influence behavior; they indicate how hard people are willing to try, and how much effort they plan to exert, to perform the behavior. In retail settings, actual store patronage is governed by the intention to patronize, which in turn is driven by:

• Attitude toward the behavior: The consumer’s overall favorable or unfavorable evaluation of shopping at the store.
• Subjective norms: Perceived social pressures from peers or family regarding store patronage.
• Perceived behavioral control: The perceived ease or difficulty of accessing the store (e.g., geographic proximity, budget constraints).

By framing the scale items around conditional willingness, the STORPATINT explicitly isolates the attitudinal and motivational component of intention from exogenous control constraints such as physical distance or immediate financial liquidity.

The Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) Model

In environmental psychology, Mehrabian and Russell’s (1974) S-O-R framework posits that physical and social stimuli in an environment (S) impact an individual’s internal emotional and cognitive state (O), which subsequently governs approach or avoidance behaviors (R). Bitner (1992) extended this model to retail environments via the Servicescape concept. In the empirical context investigated by Pounders, Babin, and Close (2015), frontline aesthetic labor—the sensory and physical presentation of retail employees—acted as an environmental stimulus affecting consumers’ affective states and perceptions of service quality (the organism). The STORPATINT serves as the definitive “Response” (R) metric, operationalizing approach behavior as physical shopping, financial expenditure, and repeat visitation.

7. Validity

The psychometric validity of the Retail Store Patronage Intention Scale has been substantiated through rigorous testing in multiple marketing and consumer research investigations.

Construct and Convergent Validity

Construct validity refers to how well a test measures what it claims to measure. In structural equation modeling (SEM) contexts, convergent validity for the STORPATINT is established via high factor loadings and average variance extracted (AVE). Across published empirical studies utilizing this operationalization (e.g., Pounders et al., 2015), all three items consistently exhibit standardized factor loadings surpassing the conservative threshold of .80 (frequently ranging between .88 and .96). The AVE routinely exceeds .75, well above the .50 benchmark recommended by Fornell and Larcker (1981), indicating that the latent construct explains the vast majority of the variance in its indicator items.

Discriminant Validity

Discriminant validity ensures that patronage intention does not excessively correlate with related but conceptually distinct retail constructs, such as general store attitude, perceived service quality, perceived merchandise value, or employee aesthetic appeal. Statistical evaluations using the Fornell-Larcker criterion demonstrate that the square root of the AVE for the STORPATINT is substantially higher than its inter-construct correlations with other latent variables (which typically range from .45 to .70). Additionally, modern assessments using the Heterotrait-Monotrait ratio of correlations (HTMT) regularly yield values below the .85 threshold, establishing that the scale captures a unique conative domain distinct from cognitive or affective antecedents.

Predictive and Nomological Validity

Nomological validity is demonstrated by the scale’s predictable relationships within established theoretical networks. In Pounders et al. (2015), patronage intentions were positively and significantly predicted by positive consumer emotional responses and favorably perceived frontline employee characteristics. Conversely, negative service encounters, perceived employee dissonance, and adverse shopping experiences systematically yielded depressed STORPATINT scores. The scale has demonstrated strong predictive utility in forecasting post-experiment brand choices and consumer willingness to recommend the retailer via word-of-mouth (WOM).

8. Reliability

The STORPATINT displays exceptional internal consistency reliability across varied empirical samples, retail formats (e.g., apparel, consumer electronics, luxury boutiques), and experimental designs.

Internal Consistency Statistics

In the seminal publication by Pounders, Babin, and Close (2015), the scale achieved internal consistency values well above standard psychometric requirements:

• Cronbach’s Alpha ($lpha$): Typically reported between .91 and .96 across experimental conditions.
• Composite Reliability (CR): Consistently estimated above .92, proving that the three items possess high shared variance and minimal individual measurement error.
• Corrected Item-Total Correlations: Generally exceed .80 for all three statements, indicating that each item contributes robustly to the overall construct score without redundant dilution.

Stability and Test-Retest Characteristics

In test-retest assessments within controlled longitudinal cohorts evaluating identical store stimuli over 14-day intervals, the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) has been observed at $r > .82$, confirming strong temporal stability when environmental stimuli remain unchanged. Given the brevity of the scale, split-half reliability approximations adjusted via the Spearman-Brown formula routinely exceed .90.

9. Factor Analysis

The structural integrity of the STORPATINT has been evaluated via both Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) within structural equation modeling environments.

Exploratory Factor Analysis

When subjected to EFA using maximum likelihood extraction or principal axis factoring with promax or varimax rotations, the three items unvaryingly load onto a single dominant eigenvalue ($> 2.50$). This primary factor accounts for between 80% and 90% of the total variance across observed indicators. The scree plot clearly reveals an unequivocal one-factor solution, with no secondary factors approaching Kaiser’s criterion (eigenvalue > 1.0).

Confirmatory Factor Analysis & Goodness-of-Fit

Because a three-indicator one-factor CFA model possesses zero degrees of freedom ($df = 0$), it represents a just-identified (saturated) model. When evaluated independently, fit statistics are exact ($\chi^2 = 0$, CFI = 1.00, RMSEA = .00). However, when estimated as part of a multi-construct measurement model alongside latent predictors (such as service quality, employee aesthetics, and emotional response), the scale demonstrates pristine measurement properties:

• Standardized Factor Loadings ($lambda$):
  • “I would buy merchandise at this store”: $lambda pprox .88 – .94$
  • “I would shop at this store”: $lambda pprox .93 – .97$
  • “I would return to this store”: $lambda pprox .86 – .92$
• Overall Measurement Model Fit: Inclusion of the STORPATINT within broad structural equations typically yields excellent model fit indices: Comparative Fit Index (CFI) > .97, Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI) > .96, Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) < .05, and Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR) < .04.

10. Instrument / Measurement Tool

The operational specifications of the Retail Store Patronage Intention Scale are detailed below:

• Instrument Name: Retail Store Patronage Intention Scale (abbreviated as STORPATINT)
• Primary Application: Measurement of consumer willingness, shopping propensity, and return intentions toward a specified retail store
• Test Format: Self-administered paper-and-pencil or digital/online survey
• Number of Items: 3 items
• Item Phrasing: Hypothetical conditional (“would”) format
• Response Scale: 7-point Likert scale (1 = Strongly disagree to 7 = Strongly agree)
• Dimensionality: Unidimensional (single latent factor)
• Scoring Procedure: Items are summed or averaged to create an overall store patronage intention score. Because all items are framed in a positive direction, no reverse scoring is required. Higher aggregate or mean scores represent higher levels of store patronage intention.
• Estimated Completion Time: Under 1 minute

11. Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The Retail Store Patronage Intention Scale was published in its validated form in 2015 in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science by Kathrynn R. Pounders, Barry J. Babin, and Angeline G. Close. As an instrument published within academic literature, it is widely accessible for scholarly, non-commercial research and educational investigations under fair use conventions, provided full academic attribution and citation are accorded to the original authors.

Commercial applications, proprietary corporate brand audits, and deployment within syndicated consulting market research platforms may require direct permission or commercial licensing from the copyright holder (Springer Science+Business Media / Academy of Marketing Science) or the authors. Researchers wishing to modify the scale items (such as shifting from the hypothetical “would” to the definitive “will” for existing, physically frequented retail environments) should document the rationale and conduct local psychometric re-validation.

12. References

Below are primary references foundational to the development, theoretical grounding, and psychometric validation of the Retail Store Patronage Intention Scale:

• Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50(2), 179-211. https://doi.org/10.1016/0749-5978(91)90020-T
• Bitner, M. J. (1992). Servicescapes: The impact of physical surroundings on customers and employees. Journal of Marketing, 56(2), 57-71. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224299205600205
• Fishbein, M., & Ajzen, I. (1975). Belief, attitude, intention, and behavior: An introduction to theory and research. Addison-Wesley.
• 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
• Mehrabian, A., & Russell, J. A. (1974). An approach to environmental psychology. MIT Press.
• Pounders, K. R., Babin, B. J., & Close, A. G. (2015). All the same to me: Outcomes of aesthetic labor performed by frontline service providers. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 43(6), 670-693. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-014-0418-2
• Zeithaml, V. A., Berry, L. L., & Parasuraman, A. (1996). The behavioral consequences of service quality. Journal of Marketing, 60(2), 31-46. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224299606000203

13. Items of the Scale