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1 – 10 of over 14000Diem-Trang Vo, Nguyen Quynh Mai, Long TV Nguyen, Nguyen Hoang Thuan, Duy Dang-Pham and Ai-Phuong Hoang
The role of customers has moved from reactive to proactive, and they require more control over digital touchpoints. The quest for authenticity is their response to the dark side…
Abstract
Purpose
The role of customers has moved from reactive to proactive, and they require more control over digital touchpoints. The quest for authenticity is their response to the dark side of interactive marketing – forms of faking, manipulation and exploitation. Authenticity becomes a key topic in interactive marketing as it reflects how customers assess digital touchpoints. However, there is a lack of comprehensive knowledge of authenticity in the interactive environment.
Design/methodology/approach
This article consolidates the authenticity studies in various digital touchpoints using the entity-referent correspondence framework. This research employs bibliometric analysis and thematic analysis of 103 articles in the last 15 years.
Findings
Five research clusters are identified: (1) human, (2) brand-generated content, (3) user-generated content, (4) branded platforms and (5) new technologies-based touchpoints (artificial intelligence, augmented reality and virtual reality). Most interactive marketing studies focus on human and content authenticity, and new technologies-based touchpoints lack comprehensive conceptualization. The review synthesizes the types of authenticity used in each touchpoint and highlights the importance of true-to-creator-self and true-to-customer-self in customer evaluation. We further propose a research framework with four antecedent groups and outcomes.
Practical implications
Our research supports managers by highlighting the type of authenticity prioritized in each touchpoint's development.
Originality/value
To answer the call from interactive marketing researchers, this research highlights the distinct definitions of authenticity at various digital touchpoints rather than looking at the overall brand. Trends, gaps and future research agenda of the authenticity concept in technology adoption and customer behavior are discussed.
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Shabnam Azimi, Kwong Chan and Alexander Krasnikov
This study aims to examine how characteristics of an online review and a consumer reading the review influence the probability that the consumer will assess the review as…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine how characteristics of an online review and a consumer reading the review influence the probability that the consumer will assess the review as authentic (real) or inauthentic (fake). This study further examines the specific factors that increase or decrease a consumer’s ability to detect a review’s authenticity and reasons a consumer makes these authenticity assessments.
Design/methodology/approach
Hypothesized relationships were tested using an online experiment of over 400 respondents who collectively provided 3,224 authenticity assessments along with 3,181 written self-report reasons for assessing a review as authentic or inauthentic.
Findings
The findings indicate that specific combinations of factors including review valence, length, readability, type of content and consumer personality traits and demographics lead to systematic bias in assessing review authenticity. Using qualitative analysis, this paper provided further insight into why consumers are deceived.
Research limitations/implications
This research showed there are important differences in the way the authenticity assessment process works for positive versus negative reviews and identified factors that can make a fake review hard to spot or a real review hard to believe.
Practical implications
This research has implications for both consumers and businesses by emphasizing areas of vulnerability for fake information and providing guidance for how to design review systems for improved veracity.
Originality/value
This research is one of the few works that explicates how people assess information authenticity and their consequent assessment accuracy in the context of online reviews.
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Filipa Rosado-Pinto and Sandra Maria Correia Loureiro
The purpose of this paper is to systematically review authenticity in the branding context and suggest avenues for future research.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to systematically review authenticity in the branding context and suggest avenues for future research.
Design/methodology/approach
This study applies a systematic literature review process and analyzes a total of 171 articles published from 1988 to 2021 and three items that are books or book chapters.
Findings
Brand authenticity has several definitions and dimensions. Although some common ground can be found among researchers, the study of authenticity is very fragmented. Even so, brand authenticity is often associated with a brand being genuine, real, true to itself and its consumers, and with consistent behavior, reflecting its values. A growing number of studies about the topic have been published, most of them empirical, applied in different industries and different geographical contexts. The authors also present several constructs associated with the topic (antecedents and consequences). Finally, this study shows paths for scholars to build on.
Research limitations/implications
The main limitations are associated with the inherent subjectivity related to the inclusion and exclusion criteria defined to select articles for the analysis.
Originality/value
This systematic review maps the past, structures existing knowledge about authenticity in the branding context, and sheds light on what could be future research in this field.
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Yusuf Hassan, Jatin Pandey, Abhishek Behl, Vijay Pereira and Daicy Vaz
The current market conditions are driving firms to plan, design and implement corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies that are true to the firms' real sense, i.e…
Abstract
Purpose
The current market conditions are driving firms to plan, design and implement corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies that are true to the firms' real sense, i.e. authentic. Authenticity is an important aspect of micro-foundations of CSR in shaping the way social responsibility initiatives would impact the stakeholders including the customers, partners, current members of the organization and shareholders. This calls for a need to synthesize past research on CSR authenticity in order to propose directions for future research.
Design/methodology/approach
The current study synthesizes relevant literature on CSR authenticity using systematic literature review (SLR) approach. In total, 34 research works were identified and examined to seek insights on CSR authenticity.
Findings
Findings of the study identified various miro-, meso- and macro-level determinants of CSR authenticity and different set of outcomes having implications on business and society. The study also proposes a comprehensive definition of CSR authenticity which was somewhat missing in existing literature.
Practical implications
The study provides strong theoretical and managerial implications. Particularly, the study provides directions for future research on the topic.
Originality/value
In this paper, a review of literature on CSR authenticity is currently missing.
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This study aims to crystallize the research landscape of corporate social responsibility (CSR) authenticity by systematically analyzing CSR scholarships published in peer-reviewed…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to crystallize the research landscape of corporate social responsibility (CSR) authenticity by systematically analyzing CSR scholarships published in peer-reviewed journals from 2007 to 2021.
Design/methodology/approach
Quantitative content analysis was used to systematically analyze 52 peer-reviewed articles on CSR authenticity. In particular, this study coded the conceptualizations and operationalizations of CSR authenticity, research contexts, applied theoretical frameworks and constructs associated with authenticity in the CSR scholarships.
Findings
This study’s analysis revealed that CSR authenticity is a multifaceted and multidimensional concept researched in various contexts. Yet, it still lacks clear and consistent conceptualization and theorization. Methodologically, qualitative and quantitative methods have equally contributed to the investigation of CSR authenticity. However, scale development and validation still need to improve.
Research limitations/implications
The sample of this research is limited by the searching method and language restriction. This research contributes to CSR scholarships by describing the growing landscape of CSR authenticity research, identifying key research gaps and offering suggestions for future research.
Practical implications
Practitioners can use the findings as references to develop more authentic CSR activities.
Originality/value
This study is an early attempt to examine the research on CSR authenticity, which has been inconclusive and disorganized, despite the rapid growth of publications in recent years.
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Noel Scott and Ana Claudia Campos
Authenticity has been studied from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, leading to a rich but confused literature. This study, a review, aims to compare the psychology and…
Abstract
Purpose
Authenticity has been studied from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, leading to a rich but confused literature. This study, a review, aims to compare the psychology and sociology/tourism definitions of authenticity to clarify the concept. From a psychological perspective, authenticity is a mental appraisal of an object or experience as valued leading to feelings and summative judgements (such as satisfaction or perceived value). In objective authenticity, a person values the object due to belief in an expert’s opinion, constructive authenticity relies on socially constructed values, while existential authenticity is based on one’s self-identity. The resultant achievement of a valued goal, such as seeing a valued object, leads to feelings of pleasure. Sociological definitions are similar but based on different theoretical antecedent causes of constructed and existential authenticity. The paper further discusses the use of theory in tourism and the project to develop tourism as a discipline. This project is considered unlikely to be successful and in turn, as argued, it is more useful to apply theory from other disciplines in a multidisciplinary manner. The results emphasise that it is necessary for tourism researchers to understand the origins and development of the concepts they use and their various definitions.
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The length of stay (LoS) is of major importance from the perspective of the management of tourist destinations. As tourists heavily rely on the online reviews of other travelers…
Abstract
Purpose
The length of stay (LoS) is of major importance from the perspective of the management of tourist destinations. As tourists heavily rely on the online reviews of other travelers as a primary information source, this study aims to empirically examine how the LoS can influence the online reviews for hotels, with special emphasis on the textual review content.
Design/methodology/approach
This study analyzes online review data collected from Booking.com by using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count program to operationalize review depth, analytical thinking and the authenticity reflected in customer reviews. Based on the analyzed data, this study used a series of regression analyses to understand the impacts of the LoS on online reviews.
Findings
The author’s analysis found that a longer stay at a hotel causes consumers to be more likely to post online reviews that not only include a numerical rating as well as written content but also lengthier and more detailed descriptions of their hotel experiences. Further analysis found that the LoS at hotels causes systematic differences in the linguistic attributes of the review content. Specifically, consumers who stay longer tend to write reviews with more analytical information, resulting in consumers perceiving the online reviews as more authentic.
Research limitations/implications
Although the LoS has been considered a significant issue in tourism, studies examining the impact of different lengths of stay on consumers’ post-purchase behaviors are limited. In this light, the author’s findings demonstrate how the LoS can change the linguistic attributes of online reviews. It expands the body of knowledge of the LoS in tourism.
Originality/value
This study represents the first attempt to empirically examine and reveal how the different length of stay at a hotel systemically influences consumer review-posting behaviors.
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Snehasish Banerjee and Alton Y.K. Chua
The purpose of this paper is twofold: to build a theoretical model that identifies textual cues to distinguish between authentic and fictitious reviews, and to empirically…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is twofold: to build a theoretical model that identifies textual cues to distinguish between authentic and fictitious reviews, and to empirically validate the theoretical model by examining reviews of positive, negative as well as moderate polarities.
Design/methodology/approach
Synthesizing major theories on deceptive communication, the theoretical model identifies four constructs – comprehensibility, specificity, exaggeration and negligence – to predict review authenticity. The predictor constructs were operationalized as holistically as possible. To validate the theoretical model, 1,800 reviews (900 authentic + 900 fictitious) evenly spread across positive, negative and moderate polarities were analyzed using logistic regression.
Findings
The performance of the proposed theoretical model was generally promising. However, it could better discern authenticity for positive and negative reviews compared with moderate entries.
Originality/value
The paper advances the extant literature by theorizing the textual differences between authentic and fictitious reviews. It also represents one of the earliest attempts to examine nuances in the textual differences between authentic and fictitious reviews across positive, negative as well as moderate polarities.
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Augusto Bargoni, Jacopo Ballerini, Demetris Vrontis and Alberto Ferraris
This paper aims to explore the impact of brand authenticity dimensions (i.e. aesthetic, symbolism, heritage, originality, quality commitment and virtue) on consumer engagement in…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the impact of brand authenticity dimensions (i.e. aesthetic, symbolism, heritage, originality, quality commitment and virtue) on consumer engagement in the context of social media. This study answers to the need of scholars to understand consumer behaviour towards family and non-family firms’ brand authenticity constructs and for practitioners to find the correct levers to increase consumer engagement.
Design/methodology/approach
Top 10 European family firms with a retrievable Facebook (FB) page from the Global Family Business Index have been selected. Then, the study analysed family firms’ social media consumer engagement versus their non-family business direct competitors on a sample of 21.664 FB posts over a four-year period, leveraging multi-group analysis.
Findings
The results outline that three out of six brand authenticity dimensions posted on FB are statistically arousing more interactions respect to non-authenticity-related contents when posted by family firms. However, there are no statistically significant findings when brand authenticity content is posted by the non-family competitors.
Practical implications
This research is helpful for practitioners and entrepreneurs who might want to strengthen their social media brand strategies. With this regard, the study provides insights on which elements of brand authenticity are perceived by consumers as more engaging and which levers to use when communicating the familiness of the company.
Originality/value
To the best of authors’ knowledge, this is one of the earliest studies crosscutting the family business and brand authenticity literature streams to conduct an empirical analysis based on official FB data with a data set of over 20,000 observations. Moreover, this study assesses that not every dimension of the brand authenticity construct is relevant in the context of social media and that its effectiveness depends on the firms’ familiness.
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Snehasish Banerjee and Alton Y.K. Chua
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent to which textual characteristics of online reviews help identify authentic entries from manipulative ones across positive…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent to which textual characteristics of online reviews help identify authentic entries from manipulative ones across positive and negative comments.
Design/methodology/approach
A theoretical framework is proposed to identify authentic online reviews from manipulative ones based on three textual characteristics, namely, comprehensibility, informativeness, and writing style. The framework is tested using two publicly available data sets, one comprising positive reviews to hype own offerings, and the other including negative reviews to slander competing offerings. Logistic regression is used for analysis.
Findings
The three textual characteristics offered useful insights to identify authentic online reviews from manipulative ones. In particular, the differences between authentic and manipulative reviews in terms of comprehensibility and informativeness were more conspicuous for negative entries. On the other hand, the differences between authentic and manipulative reviews in terms of writing style were more conspicuous for positive entries.
Research limitations/implications
The findings of this paper are somewhat constrained by the scope of the data sets used for analysis.
Originality/value
The paper represents one of the earliest attempts to develop a theoretical framework to identify authentic online reviews. Prior research has shed light on ways to classify reviews as authentic or manipulative. However, literature on specific differences between the two in terms of textual characteristics is relatively limited. Moreover, by suggesting differences between authentic and manipulative reviews across positive and negative comments, the findings offer nuanced insights into a research area that is growing in importance.
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