Assessing measurement invariance of the CETSCALE in Guangxi, China

Purpose: This study sets about assessing measurement invariance of the widely used CETSCALE in the context of an economically disadvantageous inland city in China. The 10-item CETSCALE (Shimp and Sharma 1987) was administered to a college-level student sample (male = 55 and female = 198) in Nanning City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. AMOS v. 20 was used to conduct confirmatory factor analysis and assess measurement invariance across gender. Design/methodology/approach: This study is designed to assess measurement invariance of the 10-item CETSCALE with student sample in Nanning, the capital city of Guangxi, China. Findings: The results support full metric invariance and factor variance invariance and partial scalar invariance and measurement residual invariance for the refined 5-item CETSCALE. It is found that college students in an economically underdeveloped multi-ethnic inland city like Nanning were less consumer ethnocentric than those in the affluent coastal cities. Originality/value: This is the first study to assess measurement invariance of the CETSCALE with student sample from an economically underdeveloped multi-ethnic inland city in China.