Development and Initial Calibration of a Five-Dimensional Sustainability-Focused Digital Marketing Scale for Thai SMEs

Abstract

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) increasingly combine digital customer engagement with sustainability practices, yet the literature reviewed for this study offered limited evidence of an integrated measure. This study initially calibrates a sustainability-focused extension of the 4E marketing mix, adding Environmental Responsibility as a bounded practice dimension to Experience, Exchange, Everyplace, and Evangelism. Three rounds with 23 experts refined 65 indicators; an adapted multi-stakeholder rough-set screen retained 62. Same-sample, model-generating calibration produced a 28-item specification, which was held fixed and reassessed after exact-copy screening using 541 nonduplicate Thai SME responses. Conventional reliability estimates met the stated criteria. Average variance extracted exceeded 0.50 for all dimensions in the primary model, but fell below this criterion for Experience in several sensitivity specifications. The principal correlated five-factor model fit better than the theory-specified second-order model (comparative fit index = 0.944 versus 0.939; root mean square error of approximation = 0.057 versus 0.059). Robust maximum-likelihood results were broadly supportive, whereas ordinal weighted least squares evidence was mixed. Discriminant validity remained provisional for Experience–Exchange and Exchange–Everyplace. The study integrates established rough-set principles into multi-stakeholder screening and offers an initial five-dimensional operationalization. A general 5E score is not established; independent-sample confirmation is required before scoring or benchmarking.