Consumer Need for Authenticity: Conceptualization and Scale Development
Author
Abstract
Consumers who acquire authentic products to satisfy their needs for authenticity (NFA) are on the increase. For realizing this consumption value, a serious of qualitative and quantitative researches were undertaken by this study. After personal interviews, this study identified six properties of authenticity, two types of authentic product character categories, three kinds of consumption motives about consumer seeking for need for authenticity, and then brought up the definition of consumer need for authenticity. This study also detailed the development of consumer need for authenticity scale, which was designed to measure individual differences in consumption attitude influencing by different level of NFA. This scale was constructed based on the findings of the qualitative study. Passing through reliability tests and validity tests, this study finally has a consumer NFA scale of seven factors, and 29 items. Then, the nomological validity test was held to confirm scale's applicability and validity.
Key Words
consumer need for authenticity, authenticity, consumption value, scale development
