Authenticity and Consumer Value Ratings: Empirical Tests from the Restaurant Domain

Abstract

We present two studies that together test a fundamental yet rarely examined assumption underlying the contemporary appeal of authenticity—namely, that consumers assign higher value ratings to organizations regarded as authentic. Study 1 conducts content analysis of unsolicited online restaurant reviews entered voluntarily by consumers in three major U.S. metropolitan areas from October 2004 to October 2011; the data contain information from 1,271,796 reviews written by 252,359 unique reviewers of 18,869 restaurants. The findings show that consumers assign higher ratings to restaurants regarded as authentic, even after controlling for restaurant quality in several ways. In addition, we find that consumers perceive independent, family-owned, and specialist (single-category) restaurants as more authentic than they do chain, non-family-owned, and generalist (multiple-category) restaurants. Study 2 reinforces these findings using an experimental design in which participants were presented with photos and minimal descriptions of fictitious restaurants and then asked to evaluate the likely authenticity, quality, and overall value of the restaurants in a predetermined sequence. Central to both studies is an authenticity scale that was developed through the use of an online survey that ascertains the specific language used by individuals in referencing authenticity in the restaurant domain. Taken together, these studies demonstrate that authenticity generates higher consumer value ratings of organizations; the studies also identify certain types of organizations that are more likely to receive authenticity attributions by consumers.

Contrasting alternative explanations for the consequences of category spanning: A study of restaurant reviews and menus in San Francisco

“…Our findings indicate that type-authenticity should be especially important for low-and mid-quality level restaurant. Future research could address how authenticity relates to quality and category spanning (see also Kovács et al, 2013) and how the four types of authenticity proposed by Carroll and Wheaton (2009) help explain the consequences of category spanning.…”

On the tip of the brain: Understanding when negative reputational events can have positive reputation spillovers, and for how long

“…Yelp was founded in 2004 as a way for consumers to provide reviews of their experiences and give potential customers insights to use in making their dining decisions. Yelp's expansive platform engages a wider group of consumers other outlets have been unable to reach (Johnston & Baumann, ; Kovács, Carroll, & Lehman, ; Kumar, Qiu, & Kumar, ). Yelp is also the most prominent social media platform for restaurant reviews; by the end of Q2 2017 it hosted approximately 135 million cumulative reviews from 83 million unique visitors to Yelp's website by desktop computer, and another 74 million visitors through its mobile website (Yelp, ).…”

Oppositional Identities and Resource Partitioning: Distillery Ownership in Scotch Whisky, 1826–2009

“…Outside of formal certification, the issues are subtler. They generally involve conceptions of authenticity that refer to the producer's intentions and orientations and to the methods used in production (Carroll and Wheaton (2009) provide a valuable overview of some main conceptions of authenticity; see also Kovács, Carroll, and Lehman (2013)). Our point is that concerns with authenticity make problematic the identity of the firm behind the product.…”