Scale library · Marketing & branding
Source credibility scale: Ohanian (1990)
Ohanian (1990) built this scale to measure how consumers evaluate celebrities who endorse brands. It has 15 pairs of opposite adjectives, five for each of three dimensions: attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise. It is the most cited scale in endorser-effectiveness research and is widely used in theses on influencers on TikTok, YouTube and Instagram and their effect on attitudes or purchase intention.
Cite the original, not the blog.
- Model or scale: Source Credibility
- Constructs: 3
- Items: 15
Original English items
Items marked (R) are reverse-coded: recode them before computing reliability or scale scores. Replace bracketed placeholders such as [system] with the name of the system, brand or organization you study.
Attractiveness (ATT, 5 items)
| Code | Item wording | Reverse-coded |
|---|---|---|
| ATT1 | Unattractive – Attractive | No |
| ATT2 | Not classy – Classy | No |
| ATT3 | Ugly – Beautiful | No |
| ATT4 | Plain – Elegant | No |
| ATT5 | Not sexy – Sexy | No |
Trustworthiness (TRU, 5 items)
| Code | Item wording | Reverse-coded |
|---|---|---|
| TRU1 | Not dependable – Dependable | No |
| TRU2 | Dishonest – Honest | No |
| TRU3 | Unreliable – Reliable | No |
| TRU4 | Insincere – Sincere | No |
| TRU5 | Untrustworthy – Trustworthy | No |
Expertise (EXP, 5 items)
| Code | Item wording | Reverse-coded |
|---|---|---|
| EXP1 | Not an expert – Expert | No |
| EXP2 | Inexperienced – Experienced | No |
| EXP3 | Unknowledgeable – Knowledgeable | No |
| EXP4 | Unqualified – Qualified | No |
| EXP5 | Unskilled – Skilled | No |
Response scale
7-point semantic differential between two opposite adjectives, for example 1 = Unattractive … 7 = Attractive. It is not an agreement scale.
Licence and permission
The adjective pairs are published in an academic article and widely used in advertising research. Cite the original article; we found no permission requirement for non-commercial academic use.
Sources (APA 7)
- Charbonneau, J., & Garland, R. (2006). The use of celebrity athletes as endorsers: Views of the New Zealand general public. International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship, 7(4), 31–38. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijsms-07-04-2006-b007
- Ohanian, R. (1990). Construction and validation of a scale to measure celebrity endorsers' perceived expertise, trustworthiness, and attractiveness. Journal of Advertising, 19(3), 39–52. https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.1990.10673191
- Thanh, N. N. D., Nhung, N. N. M., Tran, T. N. B., Vy, C. N. P., Nhi, N. H. Y., & Thu, L. A. (2026). Substance over superficiality: How influencer credibility attributes drive social commerce purchase intentions of Vietnamese youth. Scientific Reports, 16, 20920. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-52043-3
Vietnamese translation
A Vietnamese translation of every item, with sample-size advice and studies that used the scale, is on the Vietnamese page for this scale.