Development of the
Media Brand Trust Scale
The Media Brand Trust Scale was developed by an international research team from leading universities in Germany and the US. This approach involved a thorough qualitative and quantitative research process, continuously validated by experts from both academia and industry. Additionally, scientific feedback gathered at international conferences played a key role in refining the results. The following steps outline the process behind the creation of the MBTS and the development of the Media Brand Trust Monitor.
Media Brands Defined
By integrating qualitative and quantitative data collected in Germany, the US, and South Korea, we established a foundational definition of the term "media brand." This approach placed consumer perception at the center, ensuring a ‘democratized’ and user-centric definition of the concept. Through focus group interviews and quantitative brand categorization, we built a solid foundation for distinguishing between general brands and media brands specifically. See below for detailed information on the definition of media brands.
Media Brand Dimensions
To identify the key elements that shape consumer trust in media brands, we combined qualitative focus group interviews with quantitative surveys conducted in Germany, the US, and South Korea. This process, supported by a strong theoretical foundation from existing literature, led to the definition of ten core dimensions underlying the MBTS construct. These dimensions - Competence, Credibility, Benevolence, Consistency, Likeness, Transparency, Integrity, Relevancy, Halo, and Commercialism - were identified as critical for media brands to build and maintain consumer trust. All ten dimensions and their respective importance must be considered to effectively establish and sustain trust. These elements were integrated into the development of the MBTS and can be analyzed individually for each brand featured in the Media Brand Trust Monitor.
Media Brand Trust Scale
Through an extensive process of collecting data for each of the ten elements of Media Brand Trust and conducting a multi-phase quantitative survey in Germany, the US, and South Korea, we successfully established the valid Media Brand Trust Scale. Initially, we developed an ‘extended’ version of the scale with 25 items, then refined it by narrowing down the items to create both a ‘medium’ and ‘short’ version of the scale, consisting of 10 and 4 items respectively. This process provided us with versatile, valid tools tailored to the various needs of media brands requiring precise measurement. By conducting rigorous empirical and statistical scale development, we were able to aggregate the ten dimensions into four core factors—‘Transparent Goodness’, ‘Credible Competency’, ‘Life Relevancy’, and ‘Market Orientation’—thus presenting a second-order reflective-formative measurement model. Applying this scale, as outlined in our scientific publications, enables media brands and researchers to gain valuable insights into Media Brand Trust and its underlying elements