Construct Measurement in Advertising Research

This article presents an initial inquiry into measurement practices in advertising research based on a review of all research articles published in the Journal of Advertising (JA), the Journal of Advertising Research (JAR), and the International Journal of Advertising (IJA) between 2012 and 2014. The analysis focused on the measurement of attitude toward the ad (AAd), attitude toward the brand (ABrand), and brand purchase intention (PIBrand) because these are the most frequently studied constructs in advertising research. The results show there are weaknesses with the theoretical foundation of measures, in that constructs are often not defined and the measures are not taken from measure development studies. Moreover, there is great diversity in the items included in measures, the number of items in the measures, and in the answer scales used to capture responses, which casts doubts on the comparability of results from different studies. The implications of current measurement practice for advertising research are discussed and suggestions are made for how authors, editors, and reviewers can contribute to improved measurement practice.