Customer Inspiration: Conceptualization, Scale Development, and Validation

Introducing new ideas to customers lies at the heart of marketing, yet little is known about customers’ state of inspiration. We first conceptualize inspiration in a marketing context and then develop and validate a two-dimensional, 10-item scale to measure customer inspiration. We report four studies that involve (1) a scale development, (2) an exploration of the nomological network, (3) tests for the experimental and predictive validity, and (4) a field experiment. Empirical results show sound psychometric properties of the scale, demonstrate its unique position within its nomological network, and provide evidence for its usefulness to predict consumption-related outcomes.