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This chapter provides an overview of research on authenticity in tourism studies focusing on the development of the field and noting four main strands: objective, constructive, postmodern, and experiential. Underlying the various approaches to authenticity are distinct authentication processes with more recent work arguing for a move away from an authentic/inauthentic dichotomy toward an emphasis on the social construction of authenticity, and associated questions of power, production and performativity.

Discussion around authenticity has grown in marketing and consumption discourse in the last two decades. Consumers are viewed as seeking authenticity, and brands have responded to this. This chapter identifies three foundational categories of authenticity: personal, expressive and material. The main elements of each category are outlined. Key tensions are identified between authenticity as experienced by consumers and authenticity as leveraged for instrumental purposes by the marketplace.

This chapter starts by defining authenticity and then addressing the role that the concept has played in political communication research. It then examines authenticity as an issue in conventional politics before discussing more recent engagements with the concept, notably with regard to campaigns, populism and voting preferences.

This study elucidated the connections among the influence of Singaporean hawkers, local gastronomy involvement, and the three dimensions of authenticity (objective, constructive, and existential). Furthermore, it investigates how personal nostalgia affects the cultural identity of hawkers.

A self-administered questionnaire was created to assess hawker influence, gastronomy involvement, authenticity, personal nostalgia, and hawker cultural identity. Survey data was gathered from 401 Singapore residents aged 18 and older.

Results of the structural equation modeling revealed various significant aspects of hawker influence, including physical and social environments, uniqueness and cultural significance, and hygiene and food safety. Hawker influence and local gastronomy contributed to objective authenticity, which, in turn, affected constructive and existential authenticity, ultimately shaping personal nostalgia and hawker cultural identity.

The study offers guidance for stakeholders in sustaining hawker culture, emphasizing authenticity’s role and the importance of nostalgia in identity formation. By aligning with the progressive nature of Singapore, these implications aim to ensure the continued thriving of this invaluable legacy for generations to come.

The study affirms relationships between hawker influence, local gastronomy involvement, and authenticity constructs. It emphasizes the hawker’s role and gastronomy involvement in influencing individuals’ perceived authenticity and accentuates the potential for authenticity in strengthening national branding.

An increasing number of immersive technologies have been adopted in museum tourism in response to shifting consumer habits in the digital era. In contrast, the authenticity experience of museum tourists relies on genuine relics, the environment and activities, which are ancient or traditional. This raises the question of whether tourists can perceive authenticity in immersive technology-based museum tourism. To address this question, this study aims to explore the impact of virtual reality (VR) attributes on tourists’ presence, tourism authenticity and subsequent behavioral intentions in virtual museums.

Data were collected via scenario-based surveys of participants who had taken virtual museum tours based on VR. A total of 174 effective questionnaires were collected for exploratory factor analysis via SPSS 25. Afterward, 597 questionnaires were obtained for confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis via Mplus 7.4.

A conceptual model of how VR attributes influence presence, authenticity and visit intention was developed. There is a chain intermediary between presence and visit intentions, from original authenticity to interactive authenticity and then to emotional authenticity. Technology readiness and museum familiarity moderate some relationships between VR attributes and presence.

The findings can guide museums in improving the use of VR. For example, managers can improve the quality of virtual systems and adopt various interactive forms to enhance tourists’ participation experiences.

These research findings contribute to the research area of immersive technology adoption, enhance the understanding of tourism authenticity in the new context of technology application and extend the presence-emotion-intention theory.

Drawing on person–environment fit theory, this study aims to investigate how the relationships between service task types (i.e. utilitarian and hedonic service tasks) and perceived authenticity (i.e. service and brand authenticity) differ under different conditions of service providers (human employee vs service robot). This study further examines whether customers’ stereotypes toward service robots (competence vs warmth) moderate the relationship between service types and perceived authenticity.

Using a 2 × 2 between-subjects experimental design, Study 1 examines a casual restaurant, whereas Study 2 assesses a theme park restaurant. Analysis of covariance and PROCESS are used to analyze the data.

Both studies reveal that human service providers in hedonic services positively affect service and brand authenticity more than robotic employees. Additionally, the robot competence stereotype moderates the relationship between hedonic services, service and brand authenticity, whereas the robot warmth stereotype moderates the relationship between hedonic services and brand authenticity in Study 2.

Restaurant managers need to understand which functions and types of service outlets are best suited for service robots in different service contexts. Robot–environment fit should be considered when developers design and managers select robots for their restaurants.

This study blazes a new theoretical trail of service robot research to systematically propose customer experiences with different service types by drawing upon person–environment fit theory and examining the moderating role of customers’ stereotypes toward service robots.

This chapter is interested in exploring whether philosophical understandings of authenticity are applicable to Western conceptualisation of heritage, from physical sites (tangible) to social practices (intangible). In viewing heritage as a dynamic process, the author argues that the concept of genius loci (or spirit of place) is the most logical theoretical framework to accommodate these shifting understandings of authenticity and heritage. Moreover, by moving beyond anthropomorphised and material-centred themes and focussing instead on participation, locus and action, building conservation can explore the dynamics between materials and meanings in order to work towards a more performative interpretation of historic building authenticity

Artists operating under a studio model, such as Andy Warhol, have frequently been described as reducing their work to statements of authorship, indicated by the signature finally affixed to the work. By contrast, luxury goods manufacturers decry as inauthentic and counterfeit the handbags produced during off-shift hours using the same materials and craftsmanship as the authorized goods produced hours earlier. The distinction between authentic and inauthentic often turns on nothing more than a statement of authorship. Intellectual property law purports to value such statements of authenticity, but no statement has value unless it is accepted as valid by its audience, a determination that depends on shared notions of what authenticity means as well as a common understanding of what authenticity designates.