Correspondence: George Christodoulides, Birmingham Business School, The University of Birmingham, University House, Edgbaston Park Road, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK. E-mail: G.Christodoulides@bham.ac.uk

¹is a lecturer in Marketing and Director of the Centre for Research in Brand Marketing at the University of Birmingham Business School. With a doctorate in brand marketing, George's research focuses on branding and E-marketing, particularly in the way the internet and its related technologies have been affecting brands. George is a regular presenter at national and international conferences and his research has appeared in journals such as the Journal of Marketing Management, the Service Industries Journal, the Journal of Product and Brand Management, Interactive Marketing, and the Journal of Brand Management.

²is a lecturer in Marketing at Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham. She holds a PhD from Warwick in consumer behaviour and has published papers in European and American journals and conference proceedings on variety seeking, brand switching, involvement, food choice and antismoking messages. Current research focuses on examining determinants of food choice. Nina teaches marketing communications and consumer behaviour on a range of degree programmes.

³was a postgraduate student at the University of Birmingham in 2006–2007. She now works in Marketing for the Qisda Corporation in Taiwan.

Received 4 September 2008; Revised 4 September 2008; Published online 30 January 2009.

Abstract

This paper investigates the psychometric properties of Vigneron and Johnson's Brand Luxury Index scale. The authors developed the scale using data collected from a student sample in Australia. To validate the scale, the study reported in this paper uses data collected from Taiwanese luxury consumers. The scale was initially subjected to reliability analysis yielding low values for two of its five proposed dimensions. Exploratory and confirmatory factors analyses were subsequently performed to examine the dimensionality of brand luxury. Discriminant and convergent validity tests highlight the need for further research into the dimensionality of the construct. Although the scale represents a good initial contribution to understanding brand luxury, in view of consumers' emerging shopping patterns, further investigation is warranted to establish the psychometric properties of the scale and its equivalence across cultures.