IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ormksc/v24y2005i2p294-301.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Results on the Standard Error of the Coefficient Alpha Index of Reliability

Author

Listed:
  • Adam Duhachek

    (Department of Marketing, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47405)

  • Anne T. Coughlan

    (Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208)

  • Dawn Iacobucci

    (Department of Marketing, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, 3730 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19428)

Abstract

In this research, we investigate the behavior of Cronbach’s coefficient alpha and its new standard error. We systematically analyze the effects of sample size, scale length, strength of item intercorrelations, and scale dimensionality. We demonstrate the beneficial effects of sample size on alpha’s standard error and of scale length and the strengths of item intercorrelations (effects that are substitutes in their benefits) on both alpha and its standard error. Our findings also speak to this adage: Heterogeneity within the item covariance matrix (e.g., through multidimensionality or poor items) negatively impacts reliability by decreasing the precision of the estimation. We also examined the question of “equilibrium” scale length, showing the conditions for which it is optimal to add no items, or one, or multiple items to a scale. In terms of “best practices,” we recommend that researchers report a confidence interval or standard error along with the coefficient alpha point estimate.

Suggested Citation

  • Adam Duhachek & Anne T. Coughlan & Dawn Iacobucci, 2005. "Results on the Standard Error of the Coefficient Alpha Index of Reliability," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(2), pages 294-301, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormksc:v:24:y:2005:i:2:p:294-301
    DOI: 10.1287/mksc.1040.0097
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mksc.1040.0097
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/mksc.1040.0097?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Barbara E. Kahn & Mary Frances Luce, 2003. "Understanding High-Stakes Consumer Decisions: Mammography Adherence Following False-Alarm Test Results," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(3), pages 393-410, April.
    2. Lee Cronbach, 1951. "Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 16(3), pages 297-334, September.
    3. Gilles Laurent & Jean-Noël Kapferer & Françoise Roussel, 1995. "The Underlying Structure of Brand Awareness Scores," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 14(3_supplem), pages 170-179.
    4. Dilip Soman & Amar Cheema, 2002. "The Effect of Credit on Spending Decisions: The Role of the Credit Limit and Credibility," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 21(1), pages 32-53, September.
    5. Peterson, Robert A, 1994. "A Meta-analysis of Cronbach's Coefficient Alpha," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 21(2), pages 381-391, September.
    6. John G. Lynch , Jr. & Dan Ariely, 2000. "Wine Online: Search Costs Affect Competition on Price, Quality, and Distribution," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 19(1), pages 83-103, April.
    7. Christina L. Brown, 1999. "“Do the Right Thing:” Diverging Effects of Accountability in a Managerial Context," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 18(3), pages 230-246.
    8. Gilles Laurent & Jean-Noel Kapferer & Françoise Roussel, 1995. "The Underlying Structure of Brand Awareness Scores," Post-Print hal-00458457, HAL.
    9. Thomas P. Novak & Donna L. Hoffman & Yiu-Fai Yung, 2000. "Measuring the Customer Experience in Online Environments: A Structural Modeling Approach," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 19(1), pages 22-42, May.
    10. Akshay R. Rao & Humaira Mahi, 2003. "The Price of Launching a New Product: Empirical Evidence on Factors Affecting the Relative Magnitude of Slotting Allowances," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(2), pages 246-268, January.
    11. Bruce Cooil & Roland Rust, 1994. "Reliability and expected loss: A unifying principle," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 59(2), pages 203-216, June.
    12. Sanjay K. Dhar & Claudia González-Vallejo & Dilip Soman, 1999. "Modeling the Effects of Advertised Price Claims: Tensile Versus Precise Claims?," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 18(2), pages 154-177.
    13. Stephen J. Hoch & Eric T. Bradlow & Brian Wansink, 1999. "The Variety of an Assortment," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 18(4), pages 527-546.
    14. Roland T. Rust & J. Jeffrey Inman & Jianmin Jia & Anthony Zahorik, 1999. "What You Know About Customer-Perceived Quality: The Role of Customer Expectation Distributions," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 18(1), pages 77-92.
    15. Adam Finn, 1992. "Recall, Recognition and the Measurement of Memory for Print Advertisements: A Reassessment," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 11(1), pages 95-100.
    16. Haipeng (Allan) Chen & Akshay R. Rao, 2002. "Close Encounters of Two Kinds: False Alarms and Dashed Hopes," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 21(2), pages 178-196, August.
    17. J. Zyl & H. Neudecker & D. Nel, 2000. "On the distribution of the maximum likelihood estimator of Cronbach's alpha," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 65(3), pages 271-280, September.
    18. Gerald Häubl & Valerie Trifts, 2000. "Consumer Decision Making in Online Shopping Environments: The Effects of Interactive Decision Aids," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 19(1), pages 4-21, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Amir T. Payandeh Najafabadi & Maryam Omidi Najafabadi, 2016. "On the Bayesian estimation for Cronbach's alpha," Journal of Applied Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(13), pages 2416-2441, October.
    2. Amanda D. Ali & Lendel K. Narine & Paul A. Hill & Dominic C. Bria, 2023. "Factors Affecting Remote Workers’ Job Satisfaction in Utah: An Exploratory Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(9), pages 1-24, May.
    3. Gensler, Sonja & Neslin, Scott A. & Verhoef, Peter C., 2017. "The Showrooming Phenomenon: It's More than Just About Price," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 29-43.
    4. Verbeke, W.J.M.I. & Wuyts, S.H.K., 2006. "Moving in Social Circles – Social Circle Membership and Performance Implications," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2006-041-MKT, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    5. Massimiliano Pastore & Luigi Lombardi, 2014. "The impact of faking on Cronbach’s alpha for dichotomous and ordered rating scores," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 48(3), pages 1191-1211, May.
    6. Salim Moussa, 2016. "A Comment on the Estimation of the Reliability of Multidimensional Marketing Constructs: A Store Personality Scale Application," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 17(5), pages 1125-1144, October.
    7. Salim Moussa, 2021. "Measuring brand personality using emoji: findings from Mokken scaling," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 28(2), pages 116-132, March.
    8. Angelos Konstantinou Haralabous & Maria Darra, 2018. "Eportfolio, Alternative Assessment and Student Self-Assessment: Exploration of the Correlation in Primary Education," International Journal of Learning and Development, Macrothink Institute, vol. 8(2), pages 80-101, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mark Heitmann & Andreas Herrmann, 2007. "Die Zufriedenheit mit dem Entscheidungsprozess als Determinante der Kundenbindung," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 59(5), pages 530-566, August.
    2. Bistra Vassileva & Yordan Ivanov, 2017. "“3G” Business Model for Marketing 4.0: Implications for Circular Economy," Journal of Emerging Trends in Marketing and Management, The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, vol. 1(1), pages 124-134, October.
    3. Spiekermann, Sarah & Strobel, Martin & Temme, Dirk, 2002. "Drivers and impediments of consumer online information search: Self-controlled versus agent-based search in a high involvement context," SFB 373 Discussion Papers 2002,37, Humboldt University of Berlin, Interdisciplinary Research Project 373: Quantification and Simulation of Economic Processes.
    4. Markus Pauly & Maria Umlauft & Ali Ünlü, 2018. "Resampling-Based Inference Methods for Comparing Two Coefficients Alpha," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 83(1), pages 203-222, March.
    5. Oburai, Prathap & Moorthi Y L R & Basalingappa Anita & Kok Wai Chew & Baker Michael J, 2005. "Corporate Brand Image: Antecedents, Mediating Role and Impact on Stakeholder Expectations," IIMA Working Papers WP2005-12-04, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Research and Publication Department.
    6. Ding, David Xin & Hu, Paul Jen-Hwa & Sheng, Olivia R. Liu, 2011. "e-SELFQUAL: A scale for measuring online self-service quality," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 64(5), pages 508-515, May.
    7. Yoonsun Oh & Jungsuk Oh, 2017. "A critical incident approach to consumer response in the smartphone market: product, service and contents," Information Systems and e-Business Management, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 577-597, August.
    8. Gavan J. Fitzsimons & Donald R. Lehmann, 2004. "Reactance to Recommendations: When Unsolicited Advice Yields Contrary Responses," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(1), pages 82-94, September.
    9. repec:dgr:rugsom:04f04 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Peter J. Danaher & Isaac W. Wilson & Robert A. Davis, 2003. "A Comparison of Online and Offline Consumer Brand Loyalty," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(4), pages 461-476, February.
    11. Jos Berge & Gregor Sočan, 2004. "The greatest lower bound to the reliability of a test and the hypothesis of unidimensionality," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 69(4), pages 613-625, December.
    12. Nizar Allouch & Arkadi Predtetchinski, 2008. "On the non-emptiness of the fuzzy core," International Journal of Game Theory, Springer;Game Theory Society, vol. 37(2), pages 203-210, June.
    13. Shiri Melumad & Rhonda Hadi & Christian Hildebrand & Adrian F. Ward, 2020. "Technology-Augmented Choice: How Digital Innovations Are Transforming Consumer Decision Processes," Customer Needs and Solutions, Springer;Institute for Sustainable Innovation and Growth (iSIG), vol. 7(3), pages 90-101, October.
    14. Das, Gopal, 2014. "Linkages of retailer awareness, retailer association, retailer perceived quality and retailer loyalty with purchase intention: A study of Indian food retail brands," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 284-292.
    15. Andor, Mark A. & Lange, Andreas & Sommer, Stephan, 2022. "Fairness and the support of redistributive environmental policies," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    16. Naruemon Choochinprakarn, 2015. "Strategic Uses of Electronic Commerce for Thai Travel Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)," Proceedings of Business and Management Conferences 2303915, International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences.
    17. Stremersch, S. & Verniers, I.W.J. & Verhoef, P.C., 2006. "The Quest for Citations: Drivers of Article Impact," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2006-061-MKT, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    18. Eric Johnson & Suzanne Shu & Benedict Dellaert & Craig Fox & Daniel Goldstein & Gerald Häubl & Richard Larrick & John Payne & Ellen Peters & David Schkade & Brian Wansink & Elke Weber, 2012. "Beyond nudges: Tools of a choice architecture," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 487-504, June.
    19. Feza Tabassum Azmi, 2009. "Measuring HRM-Horizontal Fit: Scale Construction and Validation Using Structural Equation Modelling," Management and Labour Studies, XLRI Jamshedpur, School of Business Management & Human Resources, vol. 34(3), pages 329-350, August.
    20. Patrali Chatterjee & Donna L. Hoffman & Thomas P. Novak, 2003. "Modeling the Clickstream: Implications for Web-Based Advertising Efforts," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(4), pages 520-541, May.
    21. Chen, Jie & Teng, Lefa & Yu, Ying & Yu, Xueer, 2016. "The effect of online information sources on purchase intentions between consumers with high and low susceptibility to informational influence," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 467-475.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:ormksc:v:24:y:2005:i:2:p:294-301. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.