We propose a multidimensional instrument to assess the degree of presence of marketing capabilities a firm possesses, at three levels of abstraction. We first present the theoretical framework for marketing capabilities and discuss the main scales proposed by Vorhies et al. Then, we detail the steps required to develop and validate our third-order formative instrument. We assess the convergent and discriminant validity of the proposed instrument via partial least squares path modelling (PLS-PM) applied to a sample of 199 French small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Finally, we check the nomological validity of our instrument by testing the positive effect of marketing capabilities on organisational performance.
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