Anthropomorphism-Based Communication and Willingness to Pay Premium Prices–Model Questionnaire

Abstract

The Anthropomorphism-Based Communication and Willingness to Pay Premium Prices–Model, developed by Li et al. (2023), is a specialized inventory designed to quantify how anthropomorphism-based communication impacts consumer behavior within the hospitality sector. Specifically, it investigates the influence of attributing human traits to brands on consumers’ Emotional Brand Attachment and their subsequent Willingness to Pay Premium Prices.

The theoretical foundation of the model rests on Cognitive Appraisal Theory, integrating key emotional and perceptual dimensions: Perceived Coolness, Perceived Warmth, and Perceived Cuteness. The original questionnaire was developed in English, with items adapted from established marketing and consumer research scales. For its application in the Chinese market, the instrument underwent professional translation into Chinese, and its internal consistency was confirmed through a rigorous double-check process conducted by two bilingual academic tourism experts (Li & Zhang, 2021). The primary target demographic for the study was young adult consumers in the hospitality sector. The comprehensive development process included detailed reporting on the scale’s factor structure, reliability metrics, and various aspects of validity.

Keywords

Anthropomorphism-Based Communication, Consumer Behavior, Hospitality and Tourism Decision-Making, Anthropomorphism-Based Brand Communication, Cognitive Appraisal Theory, Emotional Brand Attachment, Need for Uniqueness, Perceived Coolness, Perceived Cuteness, Perceived Warmth, Willingness to Pay a Premium Price.

Authors

Li, Fangxuan (Sam), Su, Qianqian, Guan, Jiantao, Zhang, Guojie.

Purpose

The primary objective of this measurement tool is to provide a quantitative framework for assessing the psychological impact of brand anthropomorphism—the attribution of human characteristics to non-human entities—on consumer purchasing decisions. The scale is tailored for the hospitality industry, aiming to measure the direct influence of anthropomorphic communication on a hotel consumer’s propensity to exhibit a Willingness to Pay a Premium Price for associated services or products.

By assessing dimensions such as perceived warmth and coolness, the model seeks to delineate the specific mechanisms through which humanized brand communications foster stronger consumer-brand relationships, ultimately driving higher perceived value and price acceptance.

Construct

The questionnaire is a multi-dimensional instrument measuring six distinct psychological constructs integral to consumer response to anthropomorphic branding. These constructs serve as the psychological pathways linking brand communication to consumer willingness to pay a premium.

• Perceived Coolness (PCO): Measures the perception of a brand as trendy, desirable, and socially valuable.

• Perceived Warmth (PWA): Captures feelings of friendliness, trustworthiness, and sincerity evoked by the brand communication.

• Perceived Cuteness (PCU): Assesses the brand’s ability to evoke feelings of adorability and endearment.

• Need for Uniqueness (NFU): Evaluates the consumer’s desire to stand out from the general public, influencing their choice of non-popular brands.

• Emotional Brand Attachment (EBA): Measures the depth of the affective bond between the consumer and the brand, characterized by passion and connection.

• Willingness to Pay a Premium Price (WTTP): Quantifies the consumer’s readiness to pay above-market rates for the anthropomorphized product or service.

Validity

The validation procedures yielded strong empirical support for both Convergent Validity and Discriminant Validity, confirming the scale’s structural integrity and conceptual clarity. Convergent Validity was established by ensuring that all Average Variance Extracted (AVE) values for the constructs ranged between 0.526 and 0.829, successfully exceeding the minimum acceptable threshold of 0.5 suggested by Fornell and Larcker (1981).

Furthermore, Discriminant Validity was well-established, as the square roots of the AVE estimates were consistently higher than the correlations observed between any paired constructs. This finding provides confidence that each component of the model measures a distinct, non-overlapping psychological dimension, ensuring that factors like Perceived Warmth are empirically separate from Emotional Brand Attachment.

Reliability

The reliability of the Anthropomorphism-Based Communication and Willingness to Pay Premium Prices–Model was confirmed through measures of internal consistency. Both Cronbach’s alpha values and composite reliability (CR) demonstrated adequate internal consistency across all research constructs included in the model.

Specifically, Cronbach’s alpha values ranged from 0.763 to 0.960, while the composite reliability estimates ranged from 0.767 to 0.960. As both ranges are significantly above the conventional threshold of 0.70, the scale exhibits high reliability, indicating that the items within each construct consistently measure the same underlying trait.

Factor Analysis

A comprehensive factor analysis approach was employed to verify the structure of the 24-item scale.

Prior to structural modeling, Common Method Bias was assessed using Harman’s single factor test. The result indicated that a single factor explained only 36.029% of the total variance. Since this figure is substantially below the commonly accepted cutoff value of 50% (Podsakoff et al., 2003), the researchers concluded that common method bias was not a significant methodological concern for the study.

The Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) confirmed the scale’s underlying structure by revealing six common factors that collectively accounted for 75.778% of the total variance. These factors corresponded exactly to the theoretical model: Perceived Coolness (PCO), Perceived Warmth (PWA), Perceived Cuteness (PCU), Need for Uniqueness (NFU), Emotional Brand Attachment (EBA), and Willingness to Pay a Premium Price (WTTP). Subsequent Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) further validated this structure, demonstrating a strong fit to the empirical data, supported by key fit indices such as a χ²/df ratio of 1.845, CFI of 0.973, and RMSEA of 0.045.

Instrument

Test Type: Original inventory/questionnaire

Format: All items are measured using a 7-point Likert-type scale, ranging from “(1) strongly disagree” to “(7) strongly agree”.

Language Available: English and Chinese.

Population Group: Human (Male and Female consumers), specifically targeting the hospitality industry sector.

Age Group: Adulthood (18 years and older), primarily focusing on Young Adulthood (18-29 years) and Thirties (30-39 years).

Population Details: Study participants were hospitality industry consumers located in China.

Test Methodology: The development methodology encompassed comprehensive testing of Test Validity (Convergent Validity, Discriminant Validity), Test Reliability (Internal Consistency), and Factor Analysis (Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Exploratory Factor Analysis), all contributing to the establishment of the Measurement Model.

Keywords

Anthropomorphism-Based Communication, Consumer Behavior, Hospitality and Tourism Decision-Making, Emotional Brand Attachment, Need for Uniqueness, Perceived Coolness, Perceived Cuteness, Perceived Warmth, Willingness to Pay a Premium Price, Measurement Model.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier:

• Li, Fangxuan (Sam): No data is Available

• Su, Qianqian: orcid.org/0000-0001-8479-3092

• Guan, Jiantao: No data is Available

• Zhang, Guojie: orcid.org/0000-0001-5293-1892

Affiliation Email addresses:

• Li, Fangxuan (Sam): [email protected]

• Su, Qianqian: [email protected]

• Guan, Jiantao: [email protected]

• Zhang, Guojie: [email protected]

Correspondence Address: Hainan University, School of Tourism, Haikou, China, 570228 (Corresponding Author: Zhang, Guojie).

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The instrument may be used freely for research and teaching purposes. No fee is associated with the use of this instrument, and it is not intended for commercial application. The test was developed and validated in 2023.

Reference’s

Li, F. (S.), Su, Q., Guan, J., & Zhang, G. (2023). Communicate like humans? Anthropomorphism and hotel consumers’ willingness to pay a premium price. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 56, 482–492. doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2023.08.008

Items of the Anthropomorphism-Based Communication and Willingness to Pay Premium Prices–Model Questionnaire

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

The Anthropomorphism-Based Communication and Willingness to Pay Premium Prices–Model is a 24-item measure. The items are structured around the following constructs, with each measured on a 7-point Likert-type scale:

• Perceived Coolness (PCO)

• Perceived Warmth (PWA)

• Perceived Cuteness (PCU)

• Need for Uniqueness (NFU)

• Emotional Brand Attachment (EBA)

• Willingness to Pay a Premium Price (WTTP)

The specific items can be found in Table 1 on page 486 of the source reference: Li, F. (S.), Su, Q., Guan, J., & Zhang, G. (2023). Communicate like humans? Anthropomorphism and hotel consumers’ willingness to pay a premium price. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 56, 482–492.

Construct: Perceived Coolness

• Measurement Item:

  • PCO 1: When I first heard of anthropomorphism-based communication for hotel brands, I was thinking that it would be cool to look.

  • PCO 2: Visiting a hotel using anthropomorphism-based communication will make me look cool.

  • PCO 3: When I think of things that are cool, the anthropomorphism-based communication for hotel brands come to mind.

  • PCO 4: The anthropomorphism-based communication for hotel brands is cool.

  • PCO 5: If I made a list of cool things, the anthropomorphism-based communication for hotel brands would be on it.

• Reference Source: Chen and Chou (2019)

Construct: Perceived Warmth

• Measurement Item:

  • PWA 1: Anthropomorphism-based communication for hotel brands makes me feel friendly.

  • PWA 2: Anthropomorphism-based communication for hotel brands makes me feel well-intentioned.

  • PWA 3: Anthropomorphism-based communication for hotel brands makes me feel trustworthy.

  • PWA 4: Anthropomorphism-based communication for hotel brands makes me feel warm.

  • PWA 5: Anthropomorphism-based communication for hotel brands makes me feel sincere.

• Reference Source: Wu et al. (2017)

Construct: Perceived Cuteness

• Measurement Item:

  • PCU 1: Anthropomorphism-based communication for hotel brands is cute.

  • PCU 2: Anthropomorphism-based communication for hotel brands is adorable.

  • PCU 3: Anthropomorphism-based communication for hotel brands is endearing.

• Reference Source: Nenkov and Scott (2014)

Construct: Need for Uniqueness

• Measurement Item:

  • NFU 1: I stop buying brands when they become popular with the general public.

  • NFU 2: I avoid brands that are bought by the average consumer.

  • NFU 3: I dislike brands bought by everyone.

  • NFU 4: When a brand becomes too popular, I use it less.

  • NFU 5: When brands become extremely popular, I lose interest in them.

• Reference Source: Abosag et al. (2020)

Construct: Emotional Brand Attachment

• Measurement Item:

  • EBA 1: My feelings towards anthropomorphism-based communication for hotel brands can be characterized by passion.

  • EBA 2: My feelings towards anthropomorphism-based communication for hotel brands can be characterized by affection.

  • EBA 3: My feelings towards anthropomorphism-based communication for hotel brands can be characterized by connection.

• Reference Source: Hung and Lu (2018)

Construct: Willingness to Pay a Premium Price

• Measurement Item:

  • WTPP 1: I am willing to pay a higher price for this hotel brand using anthropomorphism-based communication than for other brands.

  • WTPP 2: The price of this hotel brand using anthropomorphism-based communication would have to increase quite a bit before I would switch to another brand.

  • WTPP 3: I am willing to pay a lot more for this hotel brand using anthropomorphism-based communication than for other brands.

• Reference Source: Diallo et al. (2020)

Note

All items are measured using a 7-point Likert-type scale that ranged from “(1) strongly disagree” to “(7) strongly agree”.