Abstract:
Many marketing studies require exploratory analysis of construct-related terminology for the development of new measurement scales. The ability to conduct such analyses quickly, and with good external validity, is useful. This paper applies an underutilised technique, co-word analysis (Callon, Courtiale and Laville 1991), to web-based data on authenticity, a construct of increasing interest to consumer behaviour researchers. The technique allows accurate quantitative assessment, in unbiased naturalistic settings, of the interrelationships among the different terms used to describe a concept. A list of key descriptors of authenticity was developed from a range of sources. Proximity data for these terms was developed using co-word analysis within a trademark database, and on the entire World Wide Web. The proximities were used to generate multidimensional scaling maps of the authenticity descriptors, providing useful insights for scale development. This demonstration suggests that the technique could be useful in a broad range of studies.
