The Perils of Proclaiming an Authentic Organizational Identity
An emerging body of research consistently demonstrates that individuals in developed consumer markets value authenticity. But how individuals respond to organizations that tout their identities as authentic is not so well understood. We argue that organizational attempts at explicitly proclaiming th...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Society for Sociological Science
2017-01-01
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| Series: | Sociological Science |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.sociologicalscience.com/articles-v4-4-80/ |
| _version_ | 1811253829300125696 |
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| author | Balázs Kovács Glenn R. Carroll David W. Lehman |
| author_facet | Balázs Kovács Glenn R. Carroll David W. Lehman |
| author_sort | Balázs Kovács |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | An emerging body of research consistently demonstrates that individuals in developed consumer markets value authenticity. But how individuals respond to organizations that tout their identities as authentic is not so well understood. We argue that organizational attempts at explicitly proclaiming their own identity as authentic will generally be regarded by individuals with skepticism and devaluation. Across two studies with different research designs, we find consistent empirical evidence that individuals devalue organizations making identity self-claims of authenticity. The first study analyzed authenticity claims made in the texts of menus from 1,393 restaurants in Los Angeles and their corresponding 450,492 online consumer reviews recorded from 2009 to 2016. The second study used a controlled, minimalistic experimental setting with fictitious restaurant menus that examined reactions to generic authenticity self-claims. The findings illuminate how individuals respond to organizational identity claims about authenticity and raise interesting questions about other types of identity claims. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T16:57:08Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e64d517b5edb46979cc8703c619180af |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2330-6696 2330-6696 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T16:57:08Z |
| publishDate | 2017-01-01 |
| publisher | Society for Sociological Science |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Sociological Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-e64d517b5edb46979cc8703c619180af2022-12-22T03:24:11ZengSociety for Sociological ScienceSociological Science2330-66962330-66962017-01-01448010610.15195/v4.a43864The Perils of Proclaiming an Authentic Organizational IdentityBalázs Kovács0Glenn R. Carroll1David W. Lehman2 Yale University Stanford University University of Virginia An emerging body of research consistently demonstrates that individuals in developed consumer markets value authenticity. But how individuals respond to organizations that tout their identities as authentic is not so well understood. We argue that organizational attempts at explicitly proclaiming their own identity as authentic will generally be regarded by individuals with skepticism and devaluation. Across two studies with different research designs, we find consistent empirical evidence that individuals devalue organizations making identity self-claims of authenticity. The first study analyzed authenticity claims made in the texts of menus from 1,393 restaurants in Los Angeles and their corresponding 450,492 online consumer reviews recorded from 2009 to 2016. The second study used a controlled, minimalistic experimental setting with fictitious restaurant menus that examined reactions to generic authenticity self-claims. The findings illuminate how individuals respond to organizational identity claims about authenticity and raise interesting questions about other types of identity claims.https://www.sociologicalscience.com/articles-v4-4-80/AuthenticityOrganizational IdentitySelf-claims |
| spellingShingle | Balázs Kovács Glenn R. Carroll David W. Lehman The Perils of Proclaiming an Authentic Organizational Identity Sociological Science Authenticity Organizational Identity Self-claims |
| title | The Perils of Proclaiming an Authentic Organizational Identity |
| title_full | The Perils of Proclaiming an Authentic Organizational Identity |
| title_fullStr | The Perils of Proclaiming an Authentic Organizational Identity |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Perils of Proclaiming an Authentic Organizational Identity |
| title_short | The Perils of Proclaiming an Authentic Organizational Identity |
| title_sort | perils of proclaiming an authentic organizational identity |
| topic | Authenticity Organizational Identity Self-claims |
| url | https://www.sociologicalscience.com/articles-v4-4-80/ |
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