Authenticity Assurance: Risk Aversiveness & Authenticity Signaling In Local Product Evaluation

Project Abstract

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 higher risk aversion is associated with lower perceived authenticity of local products, which in turn reduces 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. Together, these findings suggest that authenticity-based positioning for local products is not uniform across consumers, and that authenticity cues can buffer the negative implications of risk aversiveness for purchase intentions.

Conference Name

Society for Marketing Advances 2026

Conference Details

Conference Name (full, no abbreviations): Society for Marketing Advances 2026

Dates: November 4, 2026 - November 7, 2026

Sponsoring Body: Society for Marketing Advances

Conference Website: https://www.societyformarketingadvances.org/

Funding Type

Travel Grant

Academic College

Arthur J. Bauernfeind College of Business

Area/Major/Minor

Marketing/Psychology

Degree

Bachelors

Classification

Junior

Name

Dr. Ismail Karabas

Academic College

Arthur J. Bauernfeind College of Business

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