How Does Authenticity Observed from Service Provider–Consumer Interactions Affect Consumer Engagement and Firm Performance? Evidence from a Field Experiment in a Restaurant Chain

Abstract

Digital platforms make many firm–customer interactions publicly observable, yet the impact of the authenticity conveyed by service providers in these interactions on future consumers remains unclear. We explore how service provider authenticity, as observed from a third-party perspective, affects subsequent consumer engagement and firm performance. Collaborating with a chain restaurant firm, we employ a mixed-method design combining secondary data analysis and a field experiment. Results indicate that authenticity significantly increases visits to the ordering page, orders, and sales. Guided by interactional justice and attribution theories, we further find that these effects are pronounced in service-failure contexts. Also, the impact of authenticity intensifies when observers witness firm-induced failures and disappears when failures are attributed externally. Our research contributes to the authenticity literature by introducing a third-party observational perspective and revealing the economic value of authenticity on digital service platforms. Practically, our findings provide implications for firms to optimize online operations.