THEORY/CONCEPTUAL Firm authenticity: the construct, research propositions, and managerial implications Saeed Tajdini 1 & Edward Ramirez 2 Received: 29 March 2016 /Accepted: 2 December 2018 # Academy of Marketing Science 2019 Abstract Firm authenticity is conceptualized as a dual-component hierarchical model, suggesting that authenticity is manifested at different organizational (employee, leadership, and strategic management) levels, as well as in the organization’ s marketplace presence (products, brands, and corporate identity). Firm authenticity is distinguished from trustworthiness, corporate social responsibility, and market orientation, providing insight into the strategy’ s theoretical boundaries. Drawing on signaling and stakeholder theories, a mediated conceptual model capturing a series of research propositions is advanced. Signaling theory suggests that signaling authenticity can be effective, and stakeholder theory proposes that firm authenticity appeals to all stakeholders, resulting in increased shareholder value and potentially shielding the firm from negative consumer reactions, whereas signaling theory proposes that it positively influences consumer related outcome variables (loyalty and purchase intentions). Managers are encouraged to integrate authenticity into their organizations, while research extensions that operationalize the construct and test its nomological validity, using latent variable modeling, secondary data analysis, or a combination thereof are recommended. Keywords Authenticity . Firm authenticity . Positioning strategy . Stakeholders Even before the news of the Enron scandal became widely publicized, evidence suggests that the American public was growing increasingly concerned with the actions of wayward firms (Mohr and Webb 2005). Not surprisingly, corporate scandals such as those involving Worldcom, Enron, and Global Crossing have led consumers to reassess their relation- ships with firms (Schwarzkopf 2006). In fact, in light of the growing number of scandals, waning faith in organizations, and the mounting influence of social media, a wave of con- sumerism has swept across the marketplace (Nepomuceno and Laroche 2015). Instead of creating connections with consumers, firms’ maladaptive behaviors, such as the Enron debacle and the BP Oil spill, have generated widespread con- sumer defensiveness and distrust (Thompson 2004 ). Consequently, firms’ motives are now more closely scruti- nized (Lyon and Maxwell 2008). Even the slightest misstep exposes the firm to the risk of being inadvertently positioned as inauthentic, and thereby alienating its consumers in the process (Gilmore and Pine 2007). This essay asserts that authenticity represents a valuable characteristic that may help firms to address consumer cyni- cism. As Aaker (1997) points out, in an age in which con- sumers thirst for genuine products and fair dealing, a strategy emphasizing a firm’ s authenticity could serve to hedge against the accrual of negative perceptions. That said, the purpose of this essay is to identify firm authenticity, demonstrating that authenticity exists at different organizational levels, while sug- gesting that adopting this strategy positions the firm and its marketplace presence as such. In addition, the essay draws on signaling and stakeholder theories to propose that firm authen- ticity positively influences the firm’ s overall reputation and perceptions of its products, and appeals to all stakeholders, resulting in increasing shareholder value and potentially shielding the firm from negative consumer reactions. * Saeed Tajdini stajdini@ius.edu Edward Ramirez eramirez29@utep.edu 1 School of Business, Indiana University Southeast, 4201 Grant Line Road, New Albany IN-47150, USA 2 Department of Marketing & Management, College of Business, University of Texas at El Paso, Room 214, 500 W. University Ave., El Paso, TX 79968-0539, USA AMS Review https://doi.org/10.1007/s13162-018-0128-9