Measuring Perceived Brand Legitimacy: a Scale Development Study

This study addresses an important gap in marketing literature by focusing on consumer-based perceived brand legitimacy (PBL), a concept that has received limited attention compared to brand reputation and brand status. Recognizing that individual consumers are critical evaluators, we develop a comprehensive PBL scale to measure how consumers perceive brand legitimacy and its impact on consumer behavior. Our scale development included item generation through consumer interviews, followed by exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, establishing the scale's reliability and validity. Using representative samples (N=1,177), we examine the effect of PBL on brand equity, demonstrating that brand legitimacy significantly influences consumers. Moreover, we investigate key antecedents of PBL—brand activism and brand heritage—offering insights into factors shaping legitimacy perceptions. This research advances the field by providing a validated, multidimensional PBL scale, addressing pragmatic, cognitive, and moral legitimacy. Our findings underscore the broader implications of brand legitimacy on brand related outcomes (e.g., brand equity), providing a valuable tool for academics and practitioners to assess legitimacy and test related theories, as well as responding to Kates' (2004) call for further exploration of brand legitimacy within the consumer context.