Measuring consumer involvement : a test of the automobile involvement scale

This study empirically investigated consumer involvement with a product class. Data was collected from 178 vehicle buyers. Reliability and factor analyses investigated the structure of the Bloch (1981) instrument and the dimensions underlying involvement. In terms of replication, the results suggest the reduced-item version of the instrument previously proposed by Shimp and Sharma (1983) is reliable and is a less excessive measurement instrument. Similar dimensions underlying involvement with the product class are reported here. The study extends previous work by obtaining similar results in a different cultural setting, producing findings from a more relevant sample, applying an additional method of data collection, and suggesting that the underlying dimensions may be temporally stable.