Service authenticity and its effect on positive emotions

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to report that authenticity is a crucial factor in determining consumer behavior. To ensure that customers feel a sense of authenticity, service organizations and researchers must understand the factors that convey perceived authenticity. Therefore, this study uses multiple features of perceived service authenticity (i.e. continuity, consistency, uniqueness, talent, scarcity, honesty and traditional) and examines their effects on positive emotions in a traditional restaurant service context.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 342 surveys were collected using a panel data service in China. This study examined the structural relationships among perceived service authenticity, positive emotions and revisit intention using AMOS. Additionally, a multigroup analysis was conducted to identify the moderating effect of individuals’ psychological traits (i.e. nostalgia proneness).

Findings

The results indicated that all service authenticity dimensions except continuity significantly enhance positive emotions. Furthermore, positive emotions significantly enhanced revisit intention. The results also revealed that nostalgia proneness moderates the effects of service authenticity on positive emotions.

Practical implications

The results provide important insights into how to increase customers’ perceived service authenticity and positive emotions.

Originality/value

This research is a pioneering effort to conceptualize a multiple-dimensional structure of the authenticity model and test its appropriateness in a traditional restaurant context. Furthermore, this study is one of the first attempts to develop an authenticity model that links service authenticity, positive emotions, revisit intention and the moderator of nostalgia proneness based on the Mehrabian and Russell model.

Citation

Kim, J.-H. (2021), "Service authenticity and its effect on positive emotions", Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 35 No. 5, pp. 572-584. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-07-2020-0261