Comparing Different Scales, Types, and Formats for Measuring Consumer Knowledge

In the consumer behaviour literature consumer knowledge evolved as a multi-dimensional construct. This study investigates the impact of different scale types and formats on three related aspects consumer knowledge in the context of leisure travelling: consumer selfconfidence, expertise and experience/familiarity. Applying an experimental 3 (different knowledge aspects) x 3 (scale types: Likert, comparative, graphical) x 3 (response formats: 3-, 5- and 7- points) three-point response formats showed some systematic weaknesses concerning internal consistency as well as skewness. Contrary to previous findings, comparative scale types had the worst results followed by Likert-type scale types. Consistently the best outcome was achieved from graphical scales using icons or pictograms as scale anchors when using 5-point scales followed by 7-point response formats.