The purpose of this research is to explore the factors that affect a celebrity’s perceived authenticity on social media sites. In total, 653 Taiwanese consumers were recruited to examine the proposed model. The findings generally support our model. The theoretical and managerial implications of this study are discussed.

In recent years brands have come under the spotlight for delivering unique and authentic brand experiences. Consumers find themselves looking for brands that add experiential value to their daily life, from a sensory, behavioral, intellectual and relational perspective (Brakus et al., 2009). Moreover, there is a growing demand for brands that are able to deliver their brand promise authentically (Morhart et al., 2015; Schallehn et al., 2014). On this background, our research was conducted in order to examine the role of brand experience and brand authenticity in generating brand love. In addressing this issue, the present study attempts to perform a test on research hypotheses by empirically validating the proposed conceptual model in a cross-country context (Japan and Portugal) for the brands Apple and Samsung. Additionally, it analyses the moderating effect of self-authenticity in relation to brand experience and brand authenticity. Data collection was done using a structured questionnaire to final consumers, who are owners of Apple and Samsung devices. A total of 574 valid questionnaires were collected regarding Apple brand (Japan = 300; Portugal = 274). Following the testing of the structural equation model, results demonstrate the correlation between brand authenticity and brand experience and show that the greater the self-authenticity, the higher is the effect of brand authenticity on brand love. It is worth noting however that the direct and moderating effects are different for Apple and Samsung in Japan and Portugal. This accounts for the cultural differences in how consumers perceive the experiential and authentic brand value propositions and how they relate emotionally to brands. Our study also provides important managerial implications by helping brand managers to understand how to drive passionate and intense feelings towards brands and to target consumers who are looking for compelling, meaningful and authentic brand experiences.

This study aims to explore the motivations and effects of country of ingredient authenticity on product judgement and willingness to buy or/and recommend. Country of ingredient authenticity can be defined as set of consumers’ generic characteristics or traits of seeking/pursuing/consuming raw materials/goods and/or artisan skills that are deemed to be superior and synonymous to a specific location in the pursuits of one’s self image and social standing (Cheah, Zainol and Phau, 2017). The jewellery brands used in this study are Swarovski, Pandora and Monora. The 4X1 exploratory research design looks at four different conditions applied to the three jewellery brands. AMOS and SPSS were used to analyse the data and determine model fit. Managerial implications include the positive recognition of the ingredient authenticity of Swarovski crystals incorporated with other products/brands. Theoretical Development Country-of-origin acts as a quality indicator (Bilkey & Nes, 1982). Consumers rely on their perceptions of product quality from a specific country to evaluate other products from the same country. The home country of a brand and its image can serve as a source of competitive advantage or disadvantage (Cuervo-Cazurra & Un, 2015). In more recent times, product collaborations and ingredient branding techniques have been adopted in the marketplace. As a first for its brand, Louis Vuitton partnered with Supreme to launch a streetwear line in 2017. In 2011, Prada launched a ‘made in’ campaign to highlight the authenticity of the raw materials and artisan skills used to create the products. Country-of-ingredient-authenticity aimed at exploring how countries can capitalize on their expertise to improve product and country image perceptions. The incorporation of materials and skills from the country-of-ingredientauthenticity can be a strategic decision that allows brands to alleviate the product judgement and willingness to buy or recommend (Suter et al., 2017). This decision can prove to be advantageous for the firm (Suter et al., 2018). This study aims to uncover whether Swarovski crystals, as both a raw material and artisan skill, can affect consumers’ perception of the product judgement and willingness to buy and recommend. The study also profiled the motivations of consumers’ seeking these ingredient-authentic products. In this research, statusseeking consumption and fashion knowledge act as the underpinning background variable to the model (Flynn et al, 2000; Eastman et al 1999). Luxury consumption is driven by the need for status in conspicuous luxury consumers whereas fashion knowledge in inconspicuous luxury consumers (Jaikumar, Singh and Sarin, 2018; Koo and Im, 2017). The study aims to discover whether status-seeking consumption and fashion knowledge has a significant impact on consumers’ need for seeking authentic ingredients in jewellery. --------Insert Figure 1 and Figure 2 here -------- Research Design In order to test our hypotheses, an online Qualtrics survey was created and administered to an Indonesian sample aged between 18 to 55 years old. Four sets of surveys were created to reflect the 4 different stimulus (Table 1). The study aims to look at whether the different brands paired with different ingredient authentic materials would result in a different perception of product judgement and willingness to buy/recommend (Maxham and Netemeyer, 2003; Bower and Landreth, 2001; Wood and Darling, 1993). The researchers were also interested to uncover the motivations behind the need for ingredient authenticity in consumers’ decision making to buy jewellery. The brands chosen were Swarovski, Pandora and Monora. Swarovski serves as the control to measure consumers’ response to the actual brand with the incorporated Swarovski crystals. Pandora was used as it is a well-known jewellery brand with a potential collaboration with Swarovski and Monora is a lesserknown jewellery brand whose brand and product quality could improve with the incorporation of Swarovski crystals. Respondents chosen had to be interested in or aware of luxury branded goods as it is important to possess some knowledge to seek for authenticity in luxury branded products. 600 completed surveys were collected in a span of 2 months. AMOS 21 software was used to run SEM model and test for model fit. SPSS 22 was used to run a median split and independent sample T-test to ascertain the motivations of ingredient-authenticity behaviour between low and high status seeking and fashion knowledge consumers. --------Insert Table 1-------- Results Four models were tested on AMOS to determine the model fit and its significant interactions. Study One – Swarovski jewellery with Swarovski crystals The conceptual model has achieved a good model fit with indices of χ2(94) = 128.937, p = .01. The other indices suggest adequate fit, SRMR = .0303, GFI = .910, IFI = .988, TLI = .985, CFI = .988, RMSEA = .049, PCLOSE= .510. Study Two – Pandora jewellery with Swarovski crystals The conceptual model has achieved a good model fit with indices, of χ2(34) = 63.490, p = .002. The other indices suggest adequate fit, SRMR = .0415, GFI = .933, IFI = .980, TLI = .968, CFI = .980, RMSEA = .076, PCLOSE= .071. Study Three – Pandora jewellery with real crystals The conceptual model has achieved a good model fit with indices, of χ2(54) = 56.332, p = .388. The other indices suggest adequate fit, SRMR = .0233, GFI = .945, IFI = .999, TLI = .998, CFI = .999, RMSEA = .017, PCLOSE= .900. Study Four – Monora jewellery with Swarovski crystals The conceptual model has achieved a good model fit with indices, of χ2(109) = 182.549, p = .000. The other indices suggest adequate fit, SRMR = .0464, GFI = .893, IFI = .975, TLI = .968, CFI = .974, RMSEA = .066, PCLOSE= .06. A median split and independent sample T-test were carried out on low and high status-seeking and fashion knowledge consumers and their means compared to the ingredient-authentic seeking behaviours. Status-seeking behaviour is the main driver of consumers acting on the need for authenticity of raw materials and artisan skills on all 4 stimulus. This behaviour could be attributed by consumers’ hedonic need to own jewellery that signal good quality and design. Fashion knowledge consumers seek authenticity of raw materials and artisan skills in both Pandora stimulus and looked for authenticity of artisan skills in Monora stimulus. This indicates that owning a Pandora jewellery can be attributed to being a trendy fashionista following the current trend of collecting charms. As for the lesser known brand, Monora, the incorporation of the ingredient authentic Swarovski crystal helped consumers to identify the authentic artisan skill that goes into making the jewellery. -------- Insert Table 2 and 3 here -------- Conclusion Swarovski jewellery commands high interest in consumers seeking for ingredient authentic products as authenticity of artisan skills positively influences product judgement and authenticity of raw materials positively influences willingness to recommend. There was no ingredient-authenticity effect in consumers when exposed to Pandora jewellery with Swarovski crystals. Pandora has always been associated and known for the novelty of collecting the charm trinkets. Consumers are more likely to buy Pandora for their charms rather than the fact it is embedded with a Swarovski crystal. Pandora jewellery with real crystals was perceived positively by consumers to increase product judgement and willingness to recommend and buy. Again, the collectors’ mindset plays a role in this behaviour. The strong brand effect also plays well into Pandora’s popularity in the marketplace. Monora jewellery with Swarovski crystals piqued consumers’ interest in the ingredient authentic product with authenticity of artisan skills positively influencing product judgment and authenticity of raw materials positively influencing willingness to recommend. The results support the idea that when Swarovski crystal is incorporated into a lesser known brand’s product, it increases the quality perception and word of mouth value. On all four studies, consumers’ product judgment positively influences willingness to recommend indicating consumers are more willing to spread word-of-mouth when they believe the product is of good quality. This willingness to recommend then positively leads to willingness to buy the product. Status-seeking behaviour was seen as a main factor for consumers when searching for the ingredient-authenticity of the jewellery. For Swarovski and Monora, the ingredient played a part in inducing the ingredient-authenticity behaviour whereas owning a Pandora jewellery signifies some sort of in-class group reference and trend. The Pandora results are supported when consumers who have fashion knowledge also sought the ingredient-authenticity of the Pandora product.

Inspired by the success of the Dove real beauty campaign, companies such as Amazon Fashion, Nike and Walmart have started to adopt authentic branding strategies, i.e., strategies based on the use of ordinary looking models to reflect real consumers in brand communications (e.g., Zombeck, 2015). Authentic branding is an alternative to the strategy of aspirational branding, where companies use “attractive” models to communicate that consuming their brands will bring consumers closer to an idealized view of themselves (e.g., being an attractive person like the models in the ads; D'Alessandro and Chitty, 2011). However, the body of evidence on their superiority over aspirational strategies is inconclusive. We expand knowledge on aspirational vs. authentic branding strategies by focusing on a new context of major economic importance for brand marketers, China, as well as by testing the moderating effect of a to date not considered contingency: local vs. foreign brand origin perceptions (i.e., low vs. high perceived brand foreignness). Data was gathered through an online survey of non-student consumers based in China recruited through Qualtrics online survey panels (n=623). Tests of reliability, convergent and discriminant validity of the measurement models deliver overall satisfactory results. R2 and Q2 values demonstrate that the tested models show good explanatory power and predictive relevance of emotional brand attachment (R2 = 0.699 to 0.759; Q2 = 0.527 to 0.696). Results support H1, as authentic branding has a positive effect on emotional brand attachment (β = 0. 293, p < 0.001), thus adding support to the efficacy of authentic branding strategies across West and East. Results also support H2, as aspirational branding has a positive effect on emotional brand attachment (β =0.598, p < 0.001). These findings support recent evidence from the UK and USA (e.g., Japutra et al., 2017) yet are out of line with recent studies in Switzerland and India, which fail to support this link (e.g., Malär et al., 2011). Results support H3, as aspirational branding has as stronger effect on EBA than authentic branding (t = 4.603, p < 0.001). Our findings question recent evidence suggesting a generic superiority of authentic over aspirational branding (e.g., Japutra et al., 2017). Results support H4, as for brands perceived as local, the effect of aspirational branding on EBA is significantly stronger than that of authentic branding (t= 4.125, p < 0.001). Thus, results support the notion that brands low on social signalling value, i.e., those perceived as local, can develop stronger attachment with consumers when they employ aspirational strategies. Finally, results do not support H5, as the data shows that for brands perceived as foreign, aspirational branding (β = 0.536, p < 0.001) still has a significantly stronger effect (t= 2.123, p < 0.05) on EBA than authentic branding (β =0.339, p < 0.001). In other words, brands perceived as foreign can still benefit from conveying aspiration over authenticity.

Despite important theoretical implications seldom research exist regarding the impact of luxury parent brand status signaling on the evaluation of horizontal line extension through the moderating role of extension authenticity, quality and fit. The luxury literature review revealed that despite important theoretical implications seldom research exist regarding the impact of luxury parent brand status signaling on the evaluation of horizontal line extension through the moderating role of extension authenticity, quality and fit. Research has examined how consumers use luxury goods to signal their status or relative position in social hierarchies (Berger & Ward 2010; Dubois et al., 2012; Geiger-Oneto et al., 2013; Kastanakis, & Balabanis, 2014) but until the current study the luxury literature could not support the extent to which status signaling impact line extension’s evaluation through the moderating role of extension authenticity (Spiggle, Nguyen, & Caravella, 2012; Beverland & Farrelly, 2010; Morhart et al., 2015; Guèvremont & Grohmann, 2016). Previous studies have found that authenticity can be to emotional attachment (Morhart et al., 2015), help pursue personal goals (Beverland & Farrelli, 2010), or relevant to brand identity, status and equity (Guevremont & Grohmann, 2016). Surprisingly, none of these studies has empirically tested this important relationship. This study’s contribution to the literature is important as it empirically confirms that in launching a new line extension, a luxury parent brand’s status signaling will directly impact the extension’s evaluation. In the process, the perceived authenticity of the extension proves to affect the evaluation significantly if the perceived quality and fit of the extension are taken into consideration in the measurement framework.

Celebrity endorsement has been traditionally considered as a strategic promotional tool by marketers. Actually, advertising scholars generally found a positive influence of celebrity endorsement on brand equity and, consequently, on consumer purchase intention. On the one hand, literature interprets celebrity source and endorsement factors as related to celebrity-brand fit, perceived celebrity motive, and celebrity expertise. On the other hand, consumer-based brand equity (CBBE) has been usually referred to brand loyalty, perceived quality, brand awareness, and brand associations. Despite such a growing interest, there is limited understanding of the underlying mechanisms linking celebrity endorsement to CBBE. Building on consumer psychology and brand signaling theories, this study develops a conceptual model which hypothesizes consumer-based brand authenticity (CBBA) and brand credibility as mediating variables of the aforementioned relationship. First, CBBA is interpreted as a multidimensional construct composed of a brand’s quality commitment, sincerity, and heritage. Second, credibility refers to a brand’s ability – e.g. expertise – and willingness – e.g. trustworthiness – to reliably keeping its promises to consumers. Moreover, this study hypothesizes that the influence of CBBA and brand credibility on CBBE vary according to consumers’ advertising evaluation. Hence, communication effectiveness is considered as a moderating variable of these relationships. The conceptual model is empirically tested using bootstrapped moderated mediation analysis on a sample of Millennial consumers. In fact, Millennials very well describe postmodern consumption and communication, which increasingly emphasize the need of “real” and authentic communication by credible endorsers and endorsed brands. By stressing the significant role of brand authenticity and credibility in the context of celebrity endorsement, this study provides both theoretical and practical implications to marketing communication literature.

Authenticity is an important topic in business activities and society at large. Sustainability management and marketing activities are required as consumers become more interested in society. The consumer evaluation of brand authenticity is a crucial factor in a brand’s reputation and long-term growth, which affects brand loyalty, electronic word of mouth (eWOM) and purchase behavior. With this latest trend, luxury brands are paying attention to sustainability activities, but consumer confidence in the sustainability of luxury brands is still low. Experts emphasize that building trust with customers by promising authenticity is a key challenge. Meanwhile, luxury brands are actively communicating with consumers through SNS, such as Instagram. Social media marketing directly and indirectly influences brand authenticity, as well as purchase intentions and eWOM. Nevertheless, there is little exposure to sustainability activities in the social media accounts of luxury brands. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the sustainability activities on the social media of luxury brands and brand authenticity, as well as the effects of brand authenticity on eWOM and purchase intention. For this study, we conducted an online survey targeting individuals with ages of 20–30 years and who are highly interested in society while actively using social media. The collected data were analyzed using the SPSS 21.0 software package. The main finding of this study reveals that consumers are more aware of brand authenticity when they see an Instagram post that includes messages about sustainability rather than a post without any such messages. In addition, brand authenticity has positive effects on eWOM and purchase intention. These findings suggest that sustainability marketing by luxury brands leads to positive consumer response, and the broadcasting of messages about sustainability via social media is effective for the marketing strategy of luxury brands.

A growing number of authors state that in recent years the notion of luxury has become all too common. Many say that authenticity is the real rare good in today’s luxury marketplace. Overwhelmed by the omnipresence of luxury and its homogenization, consumers are said to start looking for the genuine and unique, favoring smaller, more intimate and independent luxury brands. This study looks beyond well-known global players in the luxury marketplace, exploring the identities of independent niche luxury companies, their differentiating characteristics and in particular the role of authenticity. Keywords: corporate identity; corporate image; authenticity; luxury brand management; niche luxury brands; independent luxury brands

Recent research has pointed out the emergence of new online actors, especially in the domain of fashion and lifestyle—“social media influencers” or SMIs (Etter, Colleoni, Illia, Meggiorin, & D’Eugenio, forthcoming). SMIs are defined as “people who possess greater than average potential to influence others due to such attributes as frequency of communication, personal persuasiveness or size of—and centrality to—a social network.” As SMIs become professionals, with a mass audience of followers, they gain competence in generating sophisticated content such as creation of stories, videos, visuals, etc. (McQuarrie, Miller, & Phillips, 2013). As such, SMIs are tempted to leverage their online influence to partner with brands. One of the reasons brands collaborate with SMIs is that they are considered trustworthy and “one of the few forms of real, authentic communication” (Scott, 2015, p. 295). Authenticity is recognized in the marketing literature as an important attribute, as consumers increasingly desire authenticity in their products and brands (Chronis & Hampton, 2008). A notion of authenticity which has been gaining acceptance revolves around whether an individual or brand expresses their true self (Moulard, Raggio, & Folse, 2016). Holt (2002, p. 83) notes, “To be authentic, brands must be disinterested; they must be perceived as invented and disseminated by parties without an instrumental economic agenda, by people who are intrinsically motivated by their inherent value”. However, collaborating with brands may question SMIs authenticity as their inner desires to focus on products they are passionate about are challenged by commercial opportunities to showcase brands that they would not ordinary like. Their credibility might be questioned as the persuasive effect of their messages is often attributed to their perceived noncommercial nature as compared to branded advertisements. Despite growing research on influencers and acknowledged pressure of pursuing financial gains (Abidin & Ots, 2015), past research has overlooked the challenges to remain authentic when collaborating with brands. As such, our research focuses on the question: what are the strategies of SMIs to maintain authenticity while they are under commercial pressure? To answer it, we conducted a research in the context of fashion, beauty and lifestyle, as it is one of the most successful and visible domains of digital production. We analyze posts from 49 influencers participating in 9 brand campaigns that employed multiple SMIs simultaneously. These observations are complemented with 27 interviews with SMIs to understand “behind the scene” goals pursued to project this authenticity. Results suggest that SMIs implement two potentially complementary strategies expressing authenticity under commercial pressure: 1) passionate authenticity, which refers to one’s expressing of his/her inner self and being passionate even when involved in a collaboration, and 2) informational authenticity, which refers to being consistent with the facts and not lying about the partnership, the influencer or the products promoted. From a theoretical standpoint, the notion of passionate authenticity has been established in the previous literature (Moulard, et al., 2016), but we identify a new form of authenticity that we name informational authenticity. It thus extends the literature and builds on previous research to reframe the concept of authenticity (Grayson & Martinec, 2004; Morhart, Malär, Guevremont, Girardin, & Grohmann, 2015; Napoli, Dickinson, Beverland, & Farrelly, 2014). From a managerial standpoint, our findings should help SMIs manage their authenticity under threat as it suggest that they can either use Passion or Information. SMIs should be cautious to report the reality of the partnership and the product in their WOMM contents. Similarly, they should keep producing noncommercial messages about brands they are really passionate about. In the same vein, managers should be attentive to let SMIs select products in order to increase enthusiasm for the brand and minimize constraints to give room for personalized communication aligned with SMI’s style and opinions.

In the world of SNS, once ordinary users get recognized for discriminated fashion taste, they affect other users’ choice of fashion products. Fashion companies capture the importance of these influencers and tries to take advantage of their ability. However, the benefits offered to influencers such as financial compensation may provoke negative consumer reactions. The purpose of this study is to identify what aspects of SNS influencers and how they influence other fashion consumers. We suggest that influencers’ self-disclosure and authenticity of posts are important factors which elicit positive response from consumers. We also investigate the psychological mechanism of envy which can mediate the impact of self-disclosure and authenticity on consumer response. This study was conducted by an online survey of 120 Korean women in their 20s and 30s with a 2 x 2 between-group experimental design. The data was collected from 28 November to 5 December 2016. The collected data was analyzed using SPSS 23.0 for ANOVA analysis and regression analysis. The results were as follows. The main effect of authenticity was confirmed, while self-disclosure did not play a significant role, which indicates authenticity is the main factor in exercising influence on consumer response. The interaction of authenticity and self-disclosure was also observed. The participants of high in both self-disclosure and authenticity showed the strongest consumer reaction. However, the participants of high self-disclosure and low authenticity induced the weakest consumer response. For the impacts of self-disclosure and authenticity on envy, the participants exposed to the condition of both high self-disclosure and authenticity showed benign envy. On the other hand, malicious envy was aroused when both self-disclosure and authenticity were low. In relations between authenticity and consumer response, partial mediating effect of benign envy and malicious envy was confirmed. But, there was no mediating effect between self-disclosure and consumer response. This research on consumer response to influencers’ posts will provide key implications to fashion companies in building marketing strategies. In order for influencers' posts displaying their daily lives to have a positive impact on consumer response, not only self-disclosure but authenticity has to be considered. Such posts can induce benign envy and subsequently impact consumers indirectly. Influencers’ posts which narrow the gap between daily lives and products and raise the authenticity are important keys to successful marketing.

There is a variety of mobile beauty application specialized services providing information, such as reports on the advantages and disadvantages of a product, as well as tips and recommendations, based on consumers' comments for products that demand much consultation on the part of the consumers to critique the products. From goods purchased through mobile shopping apps, beauty-related products come right after fashion/retail and food/health-related goods, while promotions, followed by review/comments, are known as influential factors when selecting mobile shopping apps. Consumer reviews about a product are seen as important instruments for obtaining a variety of information about a product for those consumers who have not yet used it. Moreover, there is an increasing interest in authentic information instead of purely advertised narrations, while studies are actively in progress to verify the effectiveness of consumer reviews according to their nature and direction. The results vary with each researcher and since online consumer reviews differ, there is a need to research dynamically blended reviews and the forms that they take. Accordingly, this study attempts to observe and identify the factors that affect the perceived authenticity of the information, brand attitude, purchase intention and electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM). The sample consists of 110 respondents in their twenties and thirties who have purchased beauty products online. The respondents were given online and offline questionnaires, and the collected information was analyzed with SPSS 21.0 and AMOS 18.0 using factor analysis, reliability analysis, t-tests, structural equation modeling (SEM) and multi-group analysis. The results show that perceived information authenticity has a significant influence on brand attitude, purchase intention and e-WOM. Positive, negative and subjective evaluations have more significant impact on information authenticity than did only positive and negative reviews, while perceived authenticity has significant relevance to brand attitude, purchase intention and online word-of-mouth. The implications of these findings

Technology-mediated communication is established as a key channel for firms to interact with consumers, who can choose between a rapidly expanding variety of devices types and interaction modes such as live-chats, video calls, voice-controlled virtual assistants, or online avatars. However, frustrated consumers report publicly about their negative experience and attribute their discontent to a lack of authenticity of the technology-mediated encounter. In technology-mediated contexts consumers often cannot relate to tangible products and observable behavior of a service employee to judge the authenticity of the encounter. Thus, it is unknown how consumers form their authenticity evaluation. We address this gap by exploring the concept of authenticity in technology-mediated consumer-firm interactions. Based on 41 qualitative in-depth interviews we provide a framework of consequences and antecedents of authenticity perception. Most importantly, we identify three different categories of cues from which consumers infer to judge the authenticity of an encounter: the interaction counterpart, the communication quality and the brand experience

This research explored how experiencing a country’s cultural heritage influences consumers’ authenticity evaluation of its luxury brands. It showed authenticity was culturally constructed and perception was influenced by marketing means selectively exposing the consumers to different brand attributes. It contributes to transcultural research by linking cultural attributes to brand authenticity attributes.

In many countries, domestic tourism is important in terms of both size and economic contribution (Massidda & Etzo, 2012). This study aimed to develop a measurement scale for place authenticity for domestic destinations. Moreover, the objective was to offer insights regarding the consequences of place authenticity while travelling within borders. Empirical literature on the authentic travel experience “within borders” is quite scant and the attention of policy makers is not adequately focused on its outcomes such as attitude, values and positive WOM. A very small body of literature has primarily focused on domestic tourists’ destination experience yet omits measuring authenticity perceptions (Chi & Qu, 2008; Massidda & Etzo, 2012; Milman & Pizam, 1995). Empirical data were collected from 456 American consumers who had travelled to domestic tourism destinations. This paper provides a new measure for place authenticity that destination marketers can use to gauge what consumers think of their domestic travel experience. In addition, the findings of this study suggest that place authenticity shapes key consumer outcomes such as attitude, values and positive WOM. Furthermore, place authenticity has significant indirect effects on value and WOM, consistent with the role of place authenticity’s effects being mediated by consumer attitude toward the destination. Finally, this study discusses the managerial implications for tourism destination marketing and positioning strategy.

One of the most significant challenges of modern strategic marketers refers to the ability of expressing the authentic value of fashion brand. This is particularly important for luxury goods, which are able to effectively impact on customers’ social attitude and behavior. Hence, pertinent literature is progressively focusing on the role of authenticity as a strategic element for marketing theory. Specifically, three elements have been associated with brand’s authenticity, namely quality commitment, heritage, and sincerity. In the present research we apply a validated empirical instrument concerning brand authenticity and its aforementioned three elements. Precisely, we will present and discuss the results of a survey implemented in the Tuscany region (Italy), thus aiming at investigating possible differences and/or similarities characterizing Tuscan customers’ perception of luxury brand authenticity. A structural equation model will be conceptualized and assessed in order to analyze the existing relationships between brand’s authenticity elements, namely quality commitment, heritage, and sincerity. The results confirm the hypothesized significance of these relationships among variables. Further, we will introduce the notion of mythopoiesis, which will be interpreted as a strategic vehicle able to appropriately communicate the traditional values, culture, and historical symbolic meanings of luxury fashion brand. Actually, marketing mythopoiesis results in being an effective element for translating a historical ‘stock’ of heritage into a strategic ‘flow’ of narrative capabilities by marketing managers.

The search for authenticity is a subject that has become very common in different areas of social knowledge in recent years. The key point is to recognize what makes something authentic and which factors could influence this perception. Although the academia not yet been able to reach a consensus on the definition of what makes something authentic, some authors propose this concept in the marketing of goods and services (Beverland 2005, 2006; Beverland, Lindgreen & Vink, 2008; Alexander, 2009; Molleda, 2009; Kadirov, 2010). We propose to extend this concept to the place branding context. Destinations can be authentic when they offer tourists unique experiences. These could be interesting to be branded in order to increase tourism demand. Tourism is a sector that, despite of the uncertainties of the global economic scenario, continues to grow. According to the World Tourism Organization, in 2014 there was an increase of 4.3% in the number of tourists who traveled the world, compared to the previous year. This represents 46 million more people that revisited a destination or traveled to new places. In financial terms, the global move rose to US$ 1.5 trillion in 2014 (UNWTO, 2015). The economy of many countries depends on tourism, both in terms of GDP and employment. For instance, Seychelles, Cape Verde and Malta have respectively 21%, 16% and 13% of their GDPs coming from tourism. The same source also reveals the list of the most competitive countries in the world in terms of tourism. The top four countries are Spain, France, USA and England (WEF, 2015). Currently, considering the competitiveness in the tourism sector, it is increasingly critical the need for destinations which present a singular identity and positioning. Offering excellent options of accommodation, good attractions and historic buildings are no longer differentials. Thus, place branding can be a powerful tool to face the competitive tourism scenario (Gilmore & Pine II, 2007). This study aims to promote a measurement scale for place authenticity and verify the influence of this concept for the tourist’s destination selection. In modern societies, individuals search for their uniqueness. Taylor (2003) points out that one of the decisive aspects to be an authentic positioning is the definition of their own identity, that is, the set of attributes such as personality, physical characteristics and perception of themselves. The dilemma of authenticity and inauthenticity is already considered one of the key points of western society (Grayson & Martinec, 2004). Considering the universe of brands, an authentic brand is associated to the consistency between brand identity and brand personality. It is related to the elements and/or characteristics, which are unique. Previous published studies (Beverland, 2006; Barreto, 2008; Molleda, 2009; Kadirov, 2010; Napoli et al. 2014) proposed some dimensions to define the composing elements for authenticity perception; however, they were more focused on product authenticity. Some dimensions include product tradition, manufacturing process, product design, certifications and guarantees, price positioning, product originality, cultural symbolism, product quality, nostalgic perception and brand credibility, among others. These dimensions are not directly applicable to touristic destinations. Considering this literature gap, we decided to propose a new measurement scale specifically for places (touristic destinations). In the case of tourists, Gilmore and Pine II (2007) state that this kind of consumers search to live unique and authentic experiences. These authors emphasize that the choice of a place to visit can be considered personal reaffirmation, in the sense of having a certain personality or belonging to a particular group. The proposed model for this study states that place authenticity is guided by place tradition and place legitimacy and plays a mediating effect from place image to destination selection. For place image, we considered the natural characteristics of a touristic destination, the quality of services and the original manufacturing production of that place. These dimensions also came from the qualitative steps of this research. Previous studies (Selby & Morgan, 1996; Govers & Go, 2009) emphasize the positive impact of place image to increase consumer’s visiting desire. Before access destination selection, place image plays an important role for place authenticity perception, being that the core evaluation about a place. The first three hypothesis are: H1: The greater the perception about natural characteristics of a place, the greater the perception about place authenticity. H2: The greater the perception about the quality of services, the greater the perception about place authenticity. H3: The greater the perception about original manufacturing production, the greater the perception about place authenticity. Destination selection for vacation is related to consumer’s choice about the next place to go during his/her free time. Literature reveals that consumers’ perception about a place can be decisive for choosing or not a place for vacation (Gilmore & Pine II, 2007). Hypothesis 4 assumes that: H4: Place authenticity has a positive and significant impact on consumer’s destination selection. This study is organized in two main research stages. The first was dedicated to the developing a place authenticity measurement scale. We followed Netemeyer, Bearden and Sharma (2003) steps that include literature review, qualitative and quantitative steps. After the literature review we ran two qualitative studies with four in-depth interviews with tourism managers and eight in-depth interviews with consumers. Managers’ criteria selection was strategic public and private functions. Consumers’ criteria considered: age, gender and personal finance responsibility. The main objective of these steps was to collect more information about “what makes a place authentic” and “how we can define place image”. Initially 32 items were proposed, being 12 for place authenticity and 20 for place image. The first survey with 152 respondents was used to test the proposed scales. The second stage was defined by another survey with 152 valid respondents. We adapted from Napoli, Dickinson, Beverland, and Farrelly (2014) a 3-item scale for destination selection. The main objective of this last step was to retest the measurement scale with a new sample and test the proposed model using structural modeling equation. We used a 10-point agreement scale for all constructs. Qualtrics solutions to collect data were used in both surveys. The qualitative approach and the literature review were relevant to propose some items to measure place image and place authenticity. Previous studies emphasized the power of place image for tourism managers in order to increase destination desire for potential consumers (Selby & Morgan, 1996; Govers & Go, 2009). Echtner and Ritchie (1993) written one of the first manuscripts to promote a measurement scale to place image. It was a very robust proposition that included attribute-based images, holistic impressions, and functional, psychological, unique and common characteristics, considering a combination of structured and unstructured methodologies. Although it is a very complex scale. We proposed a new scale by listening to managers and potential tourists (consumers) about what defines the main aspects of place image. Considering place authenticity, the main characteristics that define this concept are related to place tradition and history, which are related to culture, socio-economic history and how people recognize the uniqueness of its tradition. Place legitimacy is related to the originality of place characteristics and what makes this place unique. In the first survey group, we had 152 valid responses, 64% women. Age range was from 26 to 37 years old. Main income rate (61%) was US$1600. Respondents should be the main responsible for the last destination choice. After a descriptive analysis, we ran an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with varimax rotation and principal components as extraction method. Results showed the adequacy of the proposed scale (KMO=0.886, Bartlett's 4807.951, p<0.000). Four items were deleted considering the communalities verification (under 0.50). Three dimensions were defined: place image, which means the natural characteristics of a place (6 items, α=0.938), the quality of services (7 items, α=0.914) like infrastructure and the original manufacturing production of that place (4 items, α=0.807). Two dimensions defined place authenticity: place tradition (7 items, α=0.938) and place legitimacy (5 items, α=0.934). In the second survey group, we had 152 valid responses, 62% women. Age range was from 26 to 37 years old. Main income rate (61%) was between US$1600 and US$2500. Respondents should be the main responsible for the last destination choice. The second stage included a new survey to confirm the measurement scales and test the proposed model. After descriptive analysis, we ran a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Results demonstrated the adequacy of the measurement model with tolerable goodness of fit (CMIN 403.114, DF = 142, CMIN/DF= 2.839, IFI=0.916, CFI=0.915, TLI=0.886, NFI=0.876, NFI=0.835, RMSEA=0.110). Probably sample size influenced the goodness of fit. We refined the measurement scale holding the essential items for each scale, considering CFA analysis (appendix 1). The final measurement proposed is defined for the natural characteristics of a place (4 items, AVE=0.80, CONF=0.93), the quality of services (4 items, AVE=0.84, CONF=0.95), the original manufacturing production of that place (3 items, AVE=0.76, CONF=0.90). Place authenticity: place tradition (4 items, AVE=0.77, CONF=0.93) and place legitimacy (4 items, α= AVE=076, CONF=0.93). The proposed model was tested using the structural modeling equation. Results demonstrated to be suitable, with an acceptable goodness of fit (CMIN 310.219, DF = 97; CMIN/DF= 3.198; IFI=0.907, CFI=0.905, TLI=0.867, NFI=0.876, RFI=0.817, RMSEA=0.121). All hypotheses were confirmed. There is a positive impact from natural characteristics (β=0.371, p<0.000), quality of services (β=0.236, p<0.000) and original manufacturing production (β=0.597, p<0.000) on place authenticity (R²=92%). There is also a positive impact from place authenticity to destination selection (β=0.427, p<0.000, R²=18.2%). Three major results emphasize the literature contribution of this research. First, the two-dimension place authenticity measurement scale. Place tradition and place legitimacy are the core concepts to measure place authenticity. Second, the influence of place image on place authenticity. This is useful for tourism managers since place image can be treated by marketing campaigns. The better the place image the greater the place authenticity perception. This relation explains 92% of the place authenticity construct. Thirdly, the relevance of place authenticity on destination selection. Public and private investments for some touristic place can be reinforced by marketing efforts in order to increase positive aspects for place image and place authenticity. Therefore, promoting increase in the percentage of destination selection. People are looking for unique experiences in unique places.

Support from the private sector, for example by firms, has been solicited to ease tourist attraction financial constraints and to help their restoration and maintenance out of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities (United Nations, 2010; Europanostra, 2013). When engaging in these partnerships, firms may display different level of altruistic motivation. For example, the Italian fashion company Tod’s demonstrated high altruism by agreeing to restore the Colosseum without any economic or financial return. American Express, however, sought promotional rights when the firm agreed to contribute to the restoration of the Statue of Liberty. Finally, the ticketing agency Eventim renamed the Hammersmith Apollo (now Eventim Apollo) in London following their involvement in the restoration, thus pursuing more strategic, rather than altruistic goals. Non-altruistic goals and the fear that the involvement of a company may generate scepticism in visitors, as they could perceive the authentic image of a tourist attraction to be jeopardized. Managers of tourist attractions are faced with a dilemma: should they seek financial support from third parties (e.g. firms), or would this compromise the appeal of the site, leading to a drop in the number of visitors? In order to address this problem, we conducted two experiments to examine how firms' involvement in restorations affects tourist attractions. We found that firms' altruistic motivations (that denotes the support of a cause without demanding anything in return) are positively associated with tourists' intentions to visit the attraction (Study 1). Moreover, we found that this relationship is mediated by visitors’ perceived authenticity, in other words the belief that the real aspect of the site has not been irreversibly altered. We confirm the robustness of our findings in Study 2, additionally showing how this effect is stronger in the case of heritage sites compared to non-heritage sites. To the best of our knowledge, our results are among the first to show how a lack of altruism in CSR activities can negatively affect the target of the campaign (in this particular case a tourist attraction). Results also suggest managers of tourist attractions with high heritage value to assess the altruistic motives of the firm carefully before engaging in a financial partnership.