Too Real or Just Real Enough? Service Adaptation and Authenticity Perception in Cross-Cultural Service Encounters: An Abstract

Abstract

With limited travel in a post COVID-19 world, consumers seek cultural experiences closer to home. Services like ethnic dining provide consumers the opportunity to immerse in a culturally authentic experience not a part of their daily lives (Southworth 2018; Yu et al. 2020). However, to date, research has not determined how authentic is authentic enough or if customer need some adaptation of the service encounter to their own culture for full satisfaction. On the one hand, prior research suggest that cross-cultural service encounter adaptation is associated with positive customer outcomes such as rapport, satisfaction, and WOM (Azab and Clark 2017). On the other hand, cultural authenticity is suggested to be a driver of successful service encounters (Wang and Mattila 2015), increasing customers’ satisfaction and loyalty (Park et al. 2019). Thus, adaptation and authenticity present conflicting forces in optimizing the cross-cultural service experience and satisfying customers’ demand to immerse in a foreign culture. Further complicating the situation, there is a lack of generalization across different customer groups. In this study, the authors explore the following research questions; (1) Could higher service adaptation lead to lower satisfaction if it is perceived to take away from cultural authenticity? Does too much authenticity lead to discomfort, reducing positive customer outcomes? Is there an optimum level of authenticity-adaptation? (2) Do the same assumptions hold across different generations? Is seeking authentic or more adapted cultural service experiences a generational phenomenon? (3) What role do cultural competences play - can customer cultural competences bridge the perceived authenticity – customer experience gap? The authors explore these research questions using scenario-based experiments set in the context of an Indian restaurant. Results show that too much authenticity may hinder the optimum service experience (Study 1). While younger customers prefer moderate adaptation/ authenticity (rather than low adaptation), older generation seems more adventurous and perceives a better experience (satisfaction, WoM, repatronage) when there is low to no adaptation (full authenticity) (Study 1 and 2). We find that positive outcomes are significantly higher for older generations when adaptation is low (Study 2). The effect of cultural competences is yet to be determined (Study 3). This study contributes to the literature by revealing that high levels of perceived authenticity do not always ensure positive outcomes, and that outcomes associated with perceived authenticity vary across generations. Managerially, the study helps organizations tailor the optimal level of authenticity by adjusting the level of adaptation of the offering to suit particular clientele.