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INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS
industry. The nine SCAP colors, ranging from 1 (very light) to 9 (very dark), represent
the hues of Black people. Original PMS colors were not used due to cost and availability
constraints.
2.3 Dependent Variables
Dependent variables included two 7-point scales: source credibility and attitude
toward
the ad. Source credibility was measured using a fifteen-item semantic differential scale
(Ohanian, 1990), which included items such as unattractive/attractive,
untrustworthy/trustworthy, and unknowledgeable/knowledgeable. The scale was found to
be highly reliable (α = .96).
Attitude toward the ad (Aad) was measured on a four-item semantic differential
scale adopted from Holbrook and Batra (1987). Respondents indicated their level of
agreement (1 = strongly disagree; 7 = strongly agree) to the following statements: (1) I
like the ad; (2) I react favorably to the ad; (3) I feel positive toward the ad; and (4) The ad
is good. This scale was also found to be highly reliable (α = .97).
2.4 Covariates
Metric covariates are typically included in experimental designs to remove
extraneous
influences from the dependent measures (Hair, Anderson, & Tatham, 1987). Three
covariates
were controlled for in the current study: brand familiarity, social desirability bias, and
respondent age. Significant relationships were found among the covariates and the
combined dependent measures: brand familiarity [F(2, 363) = 3.55; p < .05; partial etasquared
= .019], social desirability bias [F(2, 363) = 3.66; p < .05; partial eta-squared =
.020], and respondent age [F(2, 363) = 17.21; p < .05; partial eta-squared = .087].
Although this study used a fictitious product brand to limit the effects of
differences in
respondents‘ past knowledge (Garretson & Burton, 2005), exposing respondents to
fictitious brand names can lead to false familiarity effects (Holden & Vanhuele, 1999),
which may affect their attitudes toward the advertisement and source perceptions. Brand
familiarity was measured using a three-item, seven-point scale: unfamiliar/familiar,
inexperienced/experienced, and not knowledgeable/knowledgeable (Machleit, Allen, &
Madden, 1993).
Social desirability bias, assessed using a 10-item scale developed by Crowne and
Marlowe (1960), is often used as a covariate in research (Fisher, 2000) and may affect
how Black respondents evaluate same-race advertising models of different skin tones.
Finally, since our study included a random sample of Black respondents chosen from an
online consumer panel, older respondents may feel that the young Black female model is
less representative of their age cohort. In addition, older respondents are more likely to be
sensitive to skin tone and other race-related issues than are younger respondents, which
might affect their ratings on the dependent measures.
COPY RIGHT © 2011 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 15
JANUARY 2011
VOL 2, NO 9