Academic Level at Time of Presentation
Junior
Major
Marketing
Minor
Psychology
List all Project Mentors & Advisor(s)
Ismail Karabas
Presentation Format
Oral Presentation
Abstract/Description
Local products are commonly associated with attributes that contribute to perceptions of authenticity such as ethical values, simplicity, and community embeddedness. However, the characteristics often associated with local businesses, such as small scale, informality, and limited standardization, may be signals of uncertainty regarding quality, consistency, or reliability. As a result, perceptions of authenticity for local products may vary across consumers depending on their sensitivity to risk. Across two studies, we examine how risk aversiveness influences perceptions of authenticity and subsequent purchase intentions in a local product context. Study 1 uses survey data to show that authenticity mediates the relationship between consumer risk aversion and local purchase intentions. Study 2 builds on these findings using an experiment that manipulates authenticity cues for a local product. The results show that the effect of authenticity on purchase intentions is moderated by risk aversiveness, such that the difference between authentic and inauthentic local products is weak at low levels of risk aversiveness but becomes stronger at moderate and high levels of risk aversiveness. These findings suggest that implied authenticity-based positioning for local products is not uniformly effective across consumers, and explicit authenticity cues can buffer the negative implications of risk aversiveness for purchase intentions.
Fall Scholars Week 2026
Other (Please write in)
Other Scholars Week Event
Presidential Research
Included in
Authenticity Assurance: Risk Aversiveness & Authenticity Signaling in Local Product Evaluation
Local products are commonly associated with attributes that contribute to perceptions of authenticity such as ethical values, simplicity, and community embeddedness. However, the characteristics often associated with local businesses, such as small scale, informality, and limited standardization, may be signals of uncertainty regarding quality, consistency, or reliability. As a result, perceptions of authenticity for local products may vary across consumers depending on their sensitivity to risk. Across two studies, we examine how risk aversiveness influences perceptions of authenticity and subsequent purchase intentions in a local product context. Study 1 uses survey data to show that authenticity mediates the relationship between consumer risk aversion and local purchase intentions. Study 2 builds on these findings using an experiment that manipulates authenticity cues for a local product. The results show that the effect of authenticity on purchase intentions is moderated by risk aversiveness, such that the difference between authentic and inauthentic local products is weak at low levels of risk aversiveness but becomes stronger at moderate and high levels of risk aversiveness. These findings suggest that implied authenticity-based positioning for local products is not uniformly effective across consumers, and explicit authenticity cues can buffer the negative implications of risk aversiveness for purchase intentions.