Booth Attractiveness Scale

Abstract

The Booth Attractiveness Scale (BAS), developed by Wang et al. (2023), is a specialized, 18-item psychometric instrument designed to objectively quantify the perceived attractiveness of exhibition booths at various trade show and exposition events. The development process was rigorous, commencing with an initial pool of 30 items derived from established research across relevant marketing and consumer behavior literature (e.g., Bitner, 1992; Churchill, 1979).

Following initial refinement via focus group discussions and expert assessment for face validity, the item count was reduced to 22. Subsequent application of exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) ultimately yielded the final 18-item structure, organized into six distinct factors. The instrument was validated using a sample of adult consumers in China who had engaged in purchase behavior at three different trade expositions. The CFA results provided strong statistical support for the final six-factor model, confirming robust convergent and discriminant validity and high levels of composite reliability.

Keywords

Booth Attractiveness, Trade Expositions, Trade Shows, Booth Decoration, Booth Layout, Booth Staff, Psychological Stimuli, Consumer Behavior, Composite Reliability, Confirmatory Factor Analysis.

Authors

Wang, Jingya; Wang, Yao-Chin; Zhang, Lu; Fu, Rachel J. C.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Booth Attractiveness Scale (BAS) is to provide marketing researchers and industry professionals with a reliable and valid measure to assess and quantify the multifaceted attractiveness of trade show booths. This quantification is crucial for understanding how the physical and psychological elements of an exhibition space influence consumer attitudes and purchasing decisions.

By measuring attractiveness across six core dimensions, the scale enables detailed evaluation of booth design effectiveness, helping organizations optimize their display strategies at trade shows and similar promotional events.

Construct

The Booth Attractiveness Scale measures the latent construct of Booth Attractiveness, which is conceptualized as a multi-dimensional construct reflecting an attendee’s positive perception and engagement with an exhibition space. This perception is driven by both tangible elements (e.g., design, location) and intangible elements (e.g., staff behavior, psychological atmosphere).

The 18 items of the scale are distributed across six specific factors, which represent the key dimensions contributing to overall booth attractiveness:

• Booth decoration
• Booth staff
• Booth advertising materials
• Booth-released psychological stimuli
• Booth layout
• Booth location

Validity

The scale demonstrates robust psychometric properties, particularly concerning convergent and discriminant validity. Convergent validity was established by ensuring that the Average Variance Extracted (AVE) values for all six factors were greater than the recommended threshold of 0.50, with reported values exceeding 0.53 (Hair et al., 2006). High AVE suggests that the items strongly relate to their intended underlying factor.

Discriminant validity was confirmed using the Fornell & Larcker (1981) criterion. Specifically, the correlation coefficients between any two factors were consistently found to be lower than the square root of the AVE for each respective factor. This result confirms that the six factors measured by the BAS are empirically distinct and measure unique aspects of booth attractiveness.

Reliability

The Booth Attractiveness Scale exhibits high levels of internal consistency and dependability. Composite reliability (CR) was utilized to assess the internal consistency of the factors, with all six factors reporting CR values higher than 0.69.

These reliability figures indicate that the items within each factor consistently measure the same underlying dimension, meeting standard criteria for strong measurement dependability in academic research.

Factor Analysis

The scale development involved both Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) during the initial item reduction phase and a rigorous Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) to test the final model structure. The CFA was performed using maximum-likelihood estimation to confirm the viability of the proposed 18-item, six-factor model.

The CFA results demonstrated a satisfactory model fit. Key fit indices included: a Chi-square value (χ2) of 198.31 with 116 degrees of freedom (df), resulting in a favorable χ2/df ratio of 1.71 (p < .01). Furthermore, other crucial fit metrics supported the model: the Comparative Fit Index (CFI) was .93, the Tucker–Lewis Index (TLI) was .91, the Standardized Root Mean Squared Residual (SRMR) was .07, and the Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) was .07 (Kline, 2011). Factor loadings for all items ranged from 0.46 to 0.91, all statistically significant at p < .01, strongly supporting the hypothesized factor structure.

Instrument

Test Type: Original scale developed for the specific construct of Booth Attractiveness.

Format: The scale utilizes a 5-point Likert scale format, where respondents rate agreement ranging from “strongly disagree” (1) to “strongly agree” (5).

Language Available: English (Original research conducted using a sample from China, implying translation or localized application was used).

Population Group: Human; Male; Female.

Age Group: Adulthood (18 years and older).

Population Details: The instrument was validated on a consumer sample consisting of adults who had recently made a purchase at one of three distinct trade expositions held in China.

Test Methodology: The scale development employed robust psychometric methodologies, including Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), assessment of Test Reliability (Internal Consistency/Composite Reliability), and Test Validity (Convergent Validity, Discriminant Validity).

Keywords

Advertising, Consumer Attitudes, Consumer Behavior, Retailing, Sales Personnel, Consumer Measures, Exhibition Marketing, Mental Budgeting.

Authors

Wang, Jingya

• Affiliation: Xiamen University

• Correspondence Address: [email protected]

Wang, Yao-Chin

• Author ORCID Identifier: 0000-0001-7949-7977

• Affiliation: University of Florida

• Affiliation Email addresses: [email protected]

Zhang, Lu

• Author ORCID Identifier: 0000-0001-7408-193X

• Affiliation: Michigan State University

• Affiliation Email addresses: [email protected]

Fu, Rachel J. C.

• Affiliation: University of Florida

• Affiliation Email addresses: [email protected]

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Permissions: To obtain permission to use the Booth Attractiveness Scale, contact the Corresponding Author (Wang, Jingya).

Commercial Use: No

Fee: No

Test Year: 2023

Reference’s

Wang, J., Wang, Y.-C., Zhang, L., & Fu, R. J. C. (2023). Booth attractiveness: Scale development and model testing from a mental budgeting perspective. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 47(7), 1136–1160. doi:10.1177/10963480211070031

Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. F. (1981). Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of Marketing Research, 18(1), 39–50.

Kline, R. B. (2011). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling (3rd ed.). Guilford Press.

Items of the Booth Attractiveness Scale

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

No data is Available