Places as authentic consumption contexts

Abstract

Consumers build social capital through purposeful consumer–place interactions. Airbnb claims that consumers want to “experience a place like [they] live there.” Previous research concentrates primarily on authenticity of objects, brands, and people, with limited development of place authenticity as a concept. But place authenticity represents an increasingly important marketing concept as consumers today, particularly millennials (Schulz, P. (2015, August 8). Not just millennials: Consumers want experiences, not things. Adage. Retrieved from https://adage.com/article/digitalnext/consumers-experiences-things/299994/), value experience over “stuff.” Authenticity provides an important place characteristic that if perceived, potentially unlocks a truly valuable consumer experience. Consequently, the research presented here develops an auxiliary theory of place authenticity (PA). The theory proposes a second‐order factor indicated by three coordinate subdimensions. Phase I of the research consists of five studies that develop PA, explore its dimensionality, and confirm the PA scale's construct validity. Phase II of the research involves a sixth study, which examines a set of hypotheses that begin to establish PA's nomological net. The results shed light on the psychology by which consumers extract value from experience and into ways marketing efforts can build effective place–value propositions.

The perception of tourism in coffee‐producing equatorial countries: An empirical analysis

“…Destination branding has been developing as a significant new area of tourism. For this reason, Beerli et al () stated that this needs to be “managed with a precise strategy to meet new needs and wants to be shaped by new people's characteristics.” In particular, recent literature highlights that consumers, in most cases, want not only a holiday per se but also the cultural experience of the places they visit (Gibbs & Holloway, ; Spielmann et al, ). Thus, if we speak about service providers’ requirements to meet needs and wants, this “tourist experience” is part of the growing demand in the tourism sector.…”

“…Considering this second “dimension,” the authors noted a very interesting aspect concerning the concept of “experience”: Namely, the import attached to “where” customers consume the experience, by absorbing the external elements and by engaging all five human senses. Subsequently, the literature (Coudounaris & Sthapit, ; Oh et al, ; Quan & Wang, ; Spielmann et al, ) has also linked this aspect to the tourism sector, as it is at the “forefront of staging experience” (Oh et al, : p. 119). Everything in tourism relates to the experience: what consumers see, what they feel, the moments they enjoy, and what they learn (Oh et al, ).…”

“…Knowledge is, however, still an important driver in the current tourism industry: The more people know about a place, the more they develop the desire to visit it to experience already indirectly known factors; for example, types of food, particular services, or a fascinating landscape (Gibbs and Holloway, ). These factors augment the importance of the experience economy in the tourism industry (Coudounaris & Sthapit, ; Gibbs & Holloway, ; Oh et al, ; Quan & Wang, ; Spielmann et al, ).…”

“…This confirms that links between food and rural tourism are valid, even more so if we consider that local gastronomy encourages direct sales of farm produce (Cheng et al, ; Kivela & Crotts, ; Quan & Wang, ). Food is a way that enables the experience of place (Spielmann et al, ); moreover, it allows people to connect with local culture (Sims, ), rituals (Joliffe, ; Joliffe, ; Plummer et al, ), and heritage (Zhou, ); these touch the cognitive and affective aspects of the destination's image (Baloglu & McCleary, ). Thus, food has a beneficial role in turning a passive tourist into an active one (Bruyere et al, ; Leonidou et al, ), which has a strong impact on the brand image of the destination (Tapachai and Waryszan, ; Cheng et al, ; Kivela & Crotts, ).…”

“…These factors act synergistically to reinforce each other and, thus, enhance the value of the destination's brand and its image (Aaker, ; Kapferer, ; Anholt, ; Chang & Chieng, ). Recent literature has highlighted that consumers, in most cases, want not only a holiday per se but also the cultural experience of the places they visit (Byrd, ; Gibbs & Holloway, ; Spielmann, Babin, & Manthiou, ). According to Oh, Fiore, and Jeoung (), tourism is at the “forefront of staging experience” (p. 119).…”