RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY OF THE TURKISH VERSION OF SHORT FORM CONSUMER NEED FOR UNIQUENESS SCALE

: Individuals have the desire to differentiate themselves, at least to some extent, from those in their immediate surroundings. This need to stand out from others is often satisfied through the adoption of unique hobbies or by consuming distinct products etc. The concept of “Consumer need for uniqueness” in marketing literature is concerned with the latter form of differentiation, specifically the motivation to consume products that set the individual apart from their peers. In the literature, the concept is measured through scales of varying lengths and types. It is important to examine the validity and reliability of this scales across different cultures, as cultural differences are likely to impact the underlying structure of the concept. In consideration of the benefits of shorter scales, we sought to adapt the short version of the consumer need for uniqueness scale (CNFU-s), developed by Ruvio et al. (2008), to the Turkish context, and to assess its validity and reliability. To that end, we tested the factor structure (via confirmatory factor analysis), construct validity (through relationships with other constructs), and reliability (internal consistency) of the Turkish CNFU-s. Additionally, to examine the relationship between the CNFU-s and other constructs, we investigated the relationship between market mavenism and status consumption, which according to the literature, were expected to have a positive correlation with the CNFU-s (N = 742). The results of the study showed that the factor structure of the Turkish CNFU-s was compatible with the long-original version and the values of fit indices were within acceptable levels. The internal consistency of the CNFU-s was calculated as .89, indicating that the reliability of the scale was at a satisfactory level. As expected, the CNFU-s was positively associated with market mavenism (r = 0.17) and status consumption (r = 0.23). In conclusion, the Turkish version of the CNFU-s is a measurement tool with evidence to support its psychometric properties and can be utilized in future research studies with Turkish samples.

Introduction.The desire to be different from others can be regarded as a fundamental need for human beings (Lynn and Snyder, 2002).Specifically, in today's economic environment, people tend to express their uniqueness to others through their consumption activities as customers (Tian et al., 2001;Wan et al., 2014), which brings us to the concept of Consumer Need for Uniqueness (CNFU).CNFU is «individuals' pursuit of differentness compared to others achieved through the consumption of consumer goods to develop and enhance one's personal and social identity» (Tian and McKenzie, 2001).Consumers use certain means to realize the feeling of uniqueness, such as buying specific brands and possessing unique products.Consumers' brand and product perceptions are known to be driven by their need for uniqueness (NFU) (Keller, 2001) because they tend to buy branded products to transfer the brand meaning to themselves as an instrument of differentiating from the others around them (Sirgy, 1982).The main reason for that is people who have a high NFU do not want to be perceived as similar to other people and might evaluate it as a threat to their identity (Tien et al., 2001) since they regard their physical belongings as a part of their identity and extended self (Belk, 1988).NFU is also known to be highly related to luxury and status consumption which are regarded as important indicators.NFU is expected to be higher in those with luxury & status consumption tendencies (Latter et al., 2010).
A meaningful ongoing discussion about CNFU has been regarding the measurement of the concept.The CNFU scale developed by Tian et al. (2001) has been the most widely used one in empirical studies.The CNFU scale, which measures people's satisfaction with their unique needs through their consumption, consists of 31 items and three sub-factors (i.e., Creative Choice, Unpopular Choice, and Avoidance of Similarity).However, the scale is criticized especially for its long length (Ye et al., 2012) and contradictory and inadequate psychometric properties (Ruvio et al., 2008).Indeed, although it is proposed as an internationally valid scale (Tian et al., 2001), it is seen that the scale exhibits different psychometric properties in its adaptation to different languages and cultures.For example, in the Japanese adaptation of the scale by Knight and Kim (2007), it was seen that instead of 31 items, the scale was transformed into a version consisting of 11 items.The authors used only the «Creative Choice» dimension in the Chinese scale version, citing its long length (Ye et al., 2012).Even in some studies conducted in the USA, the country where the scale was originally developed, it is seen that the concept was measured by reducing the number of items significantly.In their study conducted in the USA, although Hwang and Hyun (2017) stated that they used the long version of the scale, it is seen that they only used 13 items to measure the concept.
In the studies that used this scale conducted in Turkey, the authors experienced similar problems.For example, in their research, Bakırtaş (2016) indicated that the scale had a two-factor structure instead of three factors, and the number of items had to be reduced from 31 to 17.In some other studies conducted on the subject, it was observed that only one sub-factor of the scale was used to reveal certain aspects of the CNFU.For this purpose, Eryiğit and Kavak (2011) used only the «Avoidance of Similarity» dimension, while Deniz (2020) used only the «Creative Choice» dimension.Similarly, in another study, Çabuk and Atılgan (2011) used only three items to measure CNFU.The scale was adapted into a short version by Ruvio et al. (2008) based on the reasons such as being too long, causing difficulties for academics in terms of its applicability, and the risk of having too many related items.Besides, since the 31-item scale developed by Tian et al. (2001) was presented as a cross-culturally valid scale, although it was created only on the participants from the USA, the cross-cultural validity of the short-form scale was also evaluated on participants from Israel, Slovenia, and Palestine.The study was conducted on a total of 467 participants from these three countries.The authors tested the construct validity of the scale by examining two CNFU antecedents, «Consumers' susceptibility to interpersonal influence», «public self-consciousness», and two CNFU consequences «unique consumption behaviour», and «shopping innovativeness».They also examined the scale's factor structure, employing internal consistency tests and factor analyses such as CFA and EFA.As a result of their findings, they concluded that the CNFU scale supports psychometric properties perfectly.Consequently, using the short version CNFU scale, obtaining psychometric properties similar to the long version and successful results in many subsequent studies (e.g., Kastanakis and Balabanis, 2014;Roy and Rabbane, 2015) justifies the scale's usefulness.It is also known that using short-forms scales has many advantages, such as preventing monotony and reducing cost and response bias (Drolet andMorrison, 2001: Jonason andWebster, 2010) which supports the argument further.
It is also seen that the long version of the CNFU produces contradictory and unsatisfactory results in terms of psychometric features both in different cultures and in the Turkish language.For this reason, the adaptation of the short version adapted by Ruvio et al. (2008) into Turkish with a comprehensive adaptation study would contribute to the literature.Therefore, this adaptation study will likely contribute to the testing of the scale in a different culture as suggested in the original research and, at the same time, to make the scale available to be used in Turkish.Indeed, Ruvio et al. (2008) emphasized that although the scale is considered universal, it reveals different results between cultures, and more cross-cultural adaptation is required.Some other studies in the literature also support this view.For example, Tsai et al. (2013) also found different results between Chinese and American participants.In addition to all these reasons, the fact that the short version of the CNFU has not been adapted to Turkish yet, the analysis of the scale's psychometric properties by adapting it to Turkish increases its potential to contribute to the field.
To adapt the CNFU scale to Turkish and to test its validity and reliability, the scale must meet certain expectations, such as the determination of the factor structure.In their adaptation study, Ruvio et al. (2008) presented the CNFU scale as a three-factor structure whose goodness of fit indexes were at acceptable levels.In the current study, it is expected that after the CFA analysis is performed, the scale will exhibit a similar three-factor structure and reveal acceptable goodness of fit values.Another research carried out to test the construct validity was to examine the relationship of the scale with other structures expected to be theoretically related.One of these variables is Market Mavenism which is expected to be positively related to CNFU (Clark and Goldsmith, 2005;Chelminski and Coulter, 2007).Based on this information in the literature, it is expected to obtain a positive relationship between NFU and Market Mavenism in the current study.Another concept expected to be theoretically related to CNFU is Status Consumption, and the Turkish version of the CNFU scale should also be empirically associated with Status Consumption to support its psychometric properties.The literature shows that there is mostly a positive relationship between NFU and status consumption (Clark et al., 2007;Chan et al., 2015;Nabi et al., 2019).Therefore, the current study expects a positive relationship between the NFU and status consumption.Meeting all these expectations will support that the scale has a valid and reliable structure.
This is the first study to adapt the short CNFU scale to Turkish.This scale adaptation potentially contributes to the theory in terms of understanding the CNFU concept in different cultural contexts and improving measurement validity.Practically, it reveals the possibility of reaching wider audiences by practitioners in a different culture.
The paper is organized as follows.The literature review presents a comprehensive literature evaluation of the need for uniqueness concept, also revealing its different measurement perspectives.The methodology part explains the methodological perspective followed to adapt the scale in detail.In the next section, the results obtained are presented and discussed.
Literature Review.In the earlier studies, individualistic values such as NFU have been regarded as a motivation mainly for the people living in Western countries (Burns and Brady, 1992;Markus and Kitayama, 1992), a growing number of recent studies strongly contradict this perspective.According to many current researches, NFU is a valid and important motivation for consumers living in China (Cai et al., 2018), Thailand (Sharma et al., 2018), India (Dey et al., 2020), Japan (Knight and Kim, 2007), and many other non-western civilizations.In a recent study carried out within a touristic locale in Turkey, it has come to light that factors related to the dimensions of NFU, apart from the inclination to avoid similarity, exerted a greater influence on the decision-making process of Asian tourists (Karagöz and Uysal, 2022).The same trend is also valid for Turkish consumers, supported by the knowledge in the relevant literature.A recent study conducted by (Efendioğlu, 2022) revealed that the Turkish Non-Fungible Token (NFT) market is growing steadily, and NFU among Turkish consumers plays an important role in this.Turkish consumers are known to use their consumption activities as an instrument to claim higher social status (Üstüner and Holt, 2010) and also perceive luxury brands as a symbol of status (Deloitte, 2015).Moreover, according to the Mc Kinsey report, although not among the biggest markets such as Brazil, Russia, India, and France, Turkey is considered one of the fastest-growing markets for luxury goods in the world (Gehaney and Bigan, 2014).However, these indicators alone may not be enough to reveal Turkish consumers' desire for luxury brands because buying luxury brands is a matter of money.Indeed, a person may have a desire for a luxury brand but might not have enough money to buy it.Although ethically controversial, the cure for that desire might be counterfeit products.It is known from the literature that consumers' main motive for consuming counterfeit products is to be perceived as a user of that specific brand (Bian and Moutinho, 2011), and a large portion of Turkish consumers do not hesitate to purchase that kind of fake brands (Ergin, 2010).Furthermore, Turkey is playing an increasingly key role with its 3rd place in the world, following China and Hong Kong in terms of counterfeits production (OECD, 2019).
Based on the motivation of individuals to satisfy their psychological needs through their consumption activities, CNFU has become a prominent trend among consumers, especially in developing countries, following individuals living in developed western countries.The concept of CNFU is often considered an antecedent that influences consumption-related activities.Popular research topics regarding CNFU are mainly about the effects on Consumer Decision Making (Liang and He, 2012;Simonson and Nowlis, 2000), Brand Perceptions and Purchase Intentions (Knight and Kim, 2007;Wu et al., 2012), and Luxury Brand Consumption (Kauppinen-Räisänen et al., 2018;Latter et al., 2010).CNFU is also widely used as a moderator between the relationships of mostly psychological consumption-related concepts, such as the effect of Face Consciousness on Status Consumption (Sun et al., 2017) and the effect of Scarcity Appeal Types in Advertisements on Consumers (Roy and Sharma, 2015).
Methodology and research methods.The data were collected via an online survey form.A quota sampling method was used, and a sample of 742 participated in the study.This sampling method was deliberately chosen to increase the sample's capability to represent the population of the study, which is Turkey.According to the Turkish Statistic Institute, 50.45% of the country's population consists of males, while 49.55% are females (TÜİK, 2021).The sample in the current study is similar to this distribution, with 49.60% males and 50.40% females.The sample is composed of all ages ranging from 15 to 65 years, and 63.8% of them were aged between 20 and 50, which is also similar to the population of Turkey within this age range (63.3%).In addition to these, 352 of the participants are single (47.44%), and 390 are married (52.56%).In terms of the educational status of the participants, 202 of them have a high school or a lower degree (27.22%), 299 have an associate degree (40.30%), and 241 have undergraduate and graduate degrees (32.48%).
During the translation of the measures used within the study, the six-staged guideline for cross-cultural adaptation of self-report measures developed by Beaton et al. (2000) was used.Regarding the first stage of this procedure, two bilingual translators translated the scale items into Turkish.One of these translators (T-1) was informed about the concept beforehand, while the other (T-2) was not.These two translators have each handed out a written report.As the second stage of the procedure, these reports were discussed by the researchers and the translators to reach a consensus on each scale item.Any differences between the two translators' reports were resolved within this stage.Following these stages, as the third phase of the procedure, the form with the final Turkish translations of the scale (T-12) was sent to two different translators, who were not informed about the concept or the measure priorly, for back-translation.One of these back-translators (BT-1) was a native English speaker who could also speak Turkish; the other (BT-2) was an English linguist.The back-translators have each sent back a written report regarding their translations.In the fourth stage, an expert committee consisting of the researchers, methodologists, linguists, and translators examined all the questionnaire versions (T-1, T-2, T-12, BT-1, and BT-2).As a result of this stage, a pre-final version was produced.As the fifth stage of the procedure, a pilot study was conducted with 172 participants.These participants were asked to give a written report about their comments on the questionnaire in general.We saw that the factors were extracted similarly to the original study, and the factor loadings were satisfactory.As mentioned above, written reports were given as a result of each stage.Regarding the sixth stage of this procedure, these reports were examined by an external committee to guarantee that the process was implemented fully.Items of the CNFU scale are given in the Table 1.

Table 1. Scale Items
Creative choice CC 1.I often combine possessions in such a way that I create a personal image that cannot be duplicated.CC 2. I often try to find a more interesting version of run-of-the-mill products because I enjoy being original.CC 3. I actively seek to develop my personal uniqueness by buying special products or brands.CC 4. Having an eye for products that are interesting and unusual assists me in establishing a distinctive image.

Unpopular choice
UC 1.When it comes to the products I buy and the situations in which I use them, I have broken customs and rules UC 2. I have often violated the understood rules of my social group regarding what to buy or own.UC 3. I have often gone against the understood rules of my social group regarding when and how certain products are properly used.UC 4. I enjoy challenging the prevailing taste of people I know by buying something they would not seem to accept.

Avoidance of similarity
AOS 1.When a product I own becomes popular among the general population, I begin to use it less.AOS 2. I often try to avoid products or brands that I know are bought by the general population.

Continued Table 1
Avoidance of similarity AOS 3. As a rule, I dislike products or brands that are customarily bought by everyone.AOS 4. The more commonplace a product or brand is among the general population, the less interested I am in buying it.
Sources: developed by the authors.
Scales.Consumer need for uniqueness.CNFU was measured with the short version of the consumer need for identity developed by Ruvio et al. (2008).Statements such as «I often try to find a more interesting version of run-of-the-mill products because I enjoy being original» (i.e., creative choice, four items, α = 0.87), «I enjoy challenging the prevailing taste of people I know by buying something they would not seem to accept» (i.e., unpopular choice, four items, α = 0.83) or «As a rule, I dislike products or brands that are customarily bought by everyone» (i.e., avoidance of similarity, four items, α = 0.89) were directed to the participants so that they can report their agreement (1 = strongly disagree; 5 = strongly agree).
Status consumption.Status consumption was measured with the 3-item Status Consumption scale (Eastman et al., 1999).Participants self-reported their agreement (1 = strongly disagree; 5 = strongly agree) with statements such as «I would pay more for a product if it had status» (α = 0.91).
Market mavenism.Market mavenism was measured with the 5-item Market Maven scale developed by Chelminski and Coulter (2007).Participants were directed with the statements such as «My friends think of me as a good source of information when it comes to new products or sales» (α = 0.87) and expected to report their agreement (1 = strongly disagree; 5 = strongly agree).
Results.Findings for descriptive statistics, correlations, and reliability values the presented in Table 2. Sources: developed by the authors.
The internal consistency of the short version of the Consumer Need for Uniqueness scale is 0.89 (dimensions range between 0.84 and 0.89).In the original study, these values are between 0.83 and 0.98.The internal consistency values of these two scales are 0.87 and 0.92, respectively for Market Mavenism and Status Consumption.CFAs were used to test the factor structure of CNFU.The three-factor model fit the data well for CFNU, NFI (normed fit index) = 0.953, CFI (comparative fit index) = 0.963, RMSEA (root mean square error of approximation) = 0.07, and x 2 /df = 4.724.In the original study, these values occurred as «NFI = 0.897, CFI = 0.941, RMSEA = 0.056, and x 2 /df = 2.200».Factor loadings ranged between 0.638 and 0.894.Regarding the original study, the factor loadings ranged between 0.656 and 0.929.AVE (average variance extracted) values were 0.631, 0.579, and 0.686 for «creative choice, unpopular choice, and avoidance of similarity» dimensions, respectively (ranging between 0.559 -0.704 for the original study).On the other hand, CR (composite reliability) values were 0.87, 0.85, and 0.90 for «creative choice, unpopular choice, and avoidance of similarity» dimensions, respectively (ranging between 0.83 -0.92 for the original study).AVE values above 0.50 and CR values above 0.70 are considered satisfactory.These values show that convergent validity is ensured.Regarding Table 2, within the CNFU scale, squared correlation estimates for each dimension were lower than AVE values.Hence, discriminant validity is also ensured.Sources: developed by the authors.
In order to test the validity of the CNFU scale, the correlations of the scale with other variables were examined.According to the data presented in Table 1, a significant and positive relationship exists between CNFU, status consumption, and market mavenism.In addition, significant results are obtained when a model is built in which the specified variables are together.Accordingly, GFI = 0.99, AGFI = 0.97, NFI = 0.92, CFI = 0.93, x 2 / df = 5.704 and RMSEA = 0.08 values were obtained, and the model is understood to be a good fit.The standard regression coefficients are the effects of the CNFU variable on status consumption, and market mavenism variables are 0.23 and 0.17, respectively.
As a result, the findings of this study bear a significant resemblance to those of the original research, demonstrating that the scale can be effectively utilized in Turkish contexts.Thus, conducting field studies across various cultures could expand the applicability of the scale's shortened version.Implementing this scale in future research involving Turkish consumers will enrich academic literature and practical applications.A notable contribution to the literature would be academicians' enhanced understanding of consumers, achieved through their use of the CNFU variable in research.For practitioners, the benefit lies in enabling businesses to understand consumers' need for uniqueness better.
Conclusions.According to the existing literature, it can be seen that the concept of CNFU results better when it is measured with a shorter scale.As mentioned above, there are studies in which the original CNFU scale was tried to be used in the Turkish language.However, those results indicated that the scale lost its integrity.Therefore, it was assumed that the short-form CNFU scale would provide more significant results and contribute to the Turkish literature.
This study revealed that the short version of the CNFU scale could be adapted into Turkish successfully.The scale's internal consistency was satisfactory, and the lowest Cronbach's Alpha value was 0.84.It was verified that the scale's three-factor structure, proposed by Ruvio et al. (2008), was in the current sample using CFA, and the results were adequate.Besides, the factor loadings of the scale items are also quite good, as in the original study.The present study shows that convergent and discriminant validities were sufficient.Regarding convergent validity, AVE and CR values of all dimensions were higher than 0.50 and 0.70, respectively.Regarding discriminant validity, AVE estimates were higher than the squared correlation estimates for each size (Fornell and Larcker, 1981;Hair et al., 2014).
The correlations between CNFU, market mavenism, and status consumption scales were examined.It was seen that the CNFU scale is significantly related to these two scales (p < 0.001).This result indicates that the present study shows satisfactory results based on relations between different constructs.The literature also supports these findings.Indeed, the literature shows significant positive relationships between CNFU and market mavenism (Clark and Goldsmith, 2005;Chelminski and Coulter, 2007) and status consumption (Latter and Marchegiani, 2010).Therefore, these findings also support the construct validity of the Turkish version of CNFU.Ruvio et al. (2008) have validated the short form of the CNFU scale in three countries: Israel, Palestine, and Slovenia.They also pointed out that their study does not have distinct culture-dependent meanings, which shows that adapting this scale to different cultures would lead to significant results.In this direction, this study showed that the short form of the CNFU scale is also valid in the Turkish sample.Therefore, this study contributes to the literature by expanding the CNFU scale's area of influence and strengthening its cross-cultural characteristic.Moreover, we have used a larger scale sample, which provides more accuracy in estimation (Verma and Verma, 2020) and leads to less variability and increased stability of the construct (Hair et al., 2014).
The main study in which the current study's findings can be compared is Ruvio et al.  2008) used the variables of consumers' susceptibility to interpersonal influence, public selfconsciousness, unique consumption behaviour, and shopping innovativeness to test the construct validity.In the current study, the variables such as status consumption and market Mavenism were preferred.Thus, a more specific set of variables were selected in the present study to test psychometric properties in a Turkish sample.In testing the construct validity, the findings obtained in both studies support the psychometric properties of CNFU.A multicultural sample was not preferred in the current study as in the Ruvio et al. ( 2008) study.As a result of this comparison, many findings support the psychometric properties of the Turkish version of the CNFU.
The present study has some limitations.The first of these limitations is that a non-probabilistic sampling method was used in the current study.It is widely accepted that probabilistic sampling methods provide more reliable results.However, this study could not use these methods due to economic constraints.Secondly, a test/re-test could not be implemented due to time constraints.Therefore, no information is available on the scale's temporal reliability.Scholars who study in this field can implement this method in future studies.Another study limitation is that the CNFU is measured with a self-report scale.Since the participants are expected to evaluate themselves, they may lose their objectivity and provide biased data.Although sufficient evidence has been obtained to support the psychometric properties of the Turkish version of the CNFU, different approaches may be adopted in future studies.For example, the test-retest reliability of the scale can be tested.In addition, the antecedents and consequences of CNFU can be included in the model to test the construct validity.A larger and more inclusive sample may be preferred in the study of possible additional psychometric properties to be tested.
To sum up, considering the internal consistency findings, the factor structure of CNFU and its relationship with other facilities, all the results support the properties of the Turkish version of the scale.Therefore, the scale can be used in research to be carried out in Turkish samples in future research.