Scale library · Consumer behavior
Shopping value scale: Babin, Darden & Griffin (1994)
Babin, Darden and Griffin (1994) argue that a shopping trip delivers two kinds of value: utilitarian value when the shopper gets the task done, and hedonic value when the shopping itself is enjoyable. The original scale has 11 hedonic and 4 utilitarian items about a specific, recent shopping trip. It underpins much research on shopping experience, satisfaction and revisit intention, and suits theses on malls, supermarkets, e-commerce marketplaces and livestream shopping.
Cite the original, not the blog.
- Model or scale: Hedonic and Utilitarian Shopping Value
- Constructs: 2
- Items: 15 (3 reverse-coded)
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.
Hedonic Shopping Value (HSV, 11 items)
| Code | Item wording | Reverse-coded |
|---|---|---|
| HSV1 | This shopping trip was truly a joy. | No |
| HSV2 | Compared to other things I could have done, the time spent shopping was truly enjoyable. | No |
| HSV3 | During the trip, I felt the excitement of the hunt. | No |
| HSV4 | This shopping trip truly felt like an escape. | No |
| HSV5 | I enjoyed being immersed in exciting new products. | No |
| HSV6 | I enjoyed this shopping trip for its own sake, not just for the items I may have purchased. | No |
| HSV7 | I continued to shop, not because I had to, but because I wanted to. | No |
| HSV8 | I had a good time because I was able to act on the "spur of the moment." | No |
| HSV9 | While shopping, I was able to forget my problems. | No |
| HSV10 | While shopping, I felt a sense of adventure. | No |
| HSV11 (R) | This shopping trip was not a very nice time out. | Yes |
Utilitarian Shopping Value (USV, 4 items)
| Code | Item wording | Reverse-coded |
|---|---|---|
| USV1 | I accomplished just what I wanted to on this shopping trip. | No |
| USV2 (R) | I couldn't buy what I really needed. | Yes |
| USV3 | While shopping, I found just the item(s) I was looking for. | No |
| USV4 (R) | I was disappointed because I had to go to another store(s) to complete my shopping. | Yes |
Response scale
5- or 7-point Likert scale (1 = Strongly disagree … 5/7 = Strongly agree). Respondents rate a specific shopping trip they have just made.
Recoding reverse-coded items: 1–5 scale: new score = 1 + 5 − score = 6 − score; 1–7 scale: new score = 1 + 7 − score = 8 − score.
Licence and permission
The items are published in an academic article and widely used in research. Cite the original article; no permission is needed for non-commercial academic use.
Sources (APA 7)
- Babin, B. J., Darden, W. R., & Griffin, M. (1994). Work and/or fun: Measuring hedonic and utilitarian shopping value. Journal of Consumer Research, 20(4), 644–656. https://doi.org/10.1086/209376
- Gertner, D., & Diaz, A. N. (1999). Marketing na Internet e comportamento do consumidor: Investigando a dicotomia hedonismo vs. utilitarismo na WWW. Revista de Administração Contemporânea, 3(3), 131–156.
- Rook, D. W., & Fisher, R. J. (1995). Normative influences on impulsive buying behavior. Journal of Consumer Research, 22(3), 305–313. https://doi.org/10.1086/209452
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.