This paper presents results from a study of measurement practice in leading advertising journals. The focus is on heterogeneity in measurement operationalizations, consistency in the naming of constructs, and overlap in the operationalizations of key advertising constructs. These issues were addressed by analyzing the measurement operationalizations of ad credibility and attitude toward the ad (AAd) in all articles published in three leading advertising journals between 2012 and 2014. Results show considerable heterogeneity in the operationalizations of ad credibility, with no studies using the same operationalization. Results also show lacking consistency as different names were used for similar constructs, and that the operationalization of several advertising constructs overlap with AAd. The paper offers a discussion of the implications of this construct confusion for advertising research and suggests steps that can be taken towards improving measurement practice.
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/lars-bergkvist/11/