The role of brand orientation on consumers perceived authenticity

• Autor(a) principal: Bergamelli, Erika
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10362/39713
• topic: Authenticity; Brand orientation; Consumer centricity; Consumers’ perceptions; Domínio/Área Científica::Ciências Sociais::Economia e Gestão

The present research investigates the role that brand orientation plays on consumers’ perceptions of authenticity and whether this influences their choice of brands. This work proposes that a consumer orientation – an orientation in which a company focuses on the needs of consumers - might be perceived as less authentic (vs. other orientations) and therefore might be less beneficial for brands. Two online studies – one correlational and one experimental - provide support for this hypothesis. The research demonstrates that consumers infer more authenticity from brands which are not perceived as consumer-centric: in fact, the social cost – the negative effect that a certain behavior might cause - in which such firms might incur in is compensated by the trust that consumers will address towards a brand that they perceive as more authentic. The present research also explores whether skepticism moderates this effect. Consequences in terms of purchase intention, trust, word-of-mouth and perceived quality are also investigated. Finally, the research does not suggest that one orientation in itself is better than the others, but it investigates perceptions of consumers in terms of authenticity.