MAN Seminar: “Consumers’ Responses to Replica (vs. Genuine) Experiences,” Prof. Zeynep Gürhan Canlı (Koç University), MA-330, 1:40PM November 15 (EN)

Date: 15 November 2019, Friday
Time: 13:40-14:40
Place: Faculty of Business Administration,
Ümit Berkman Seminar Room (MA-330)

“Consumers’ Responses to Replica (vs. Genuine) Experiences”
by
Prof. Zeynep Gürhan Canlı

Koç University

Abstract: A growing trend in marketing practice is the use of replica experiences, which are copies of genuine experiences. Yet, consumers’ responses to replica (vs. genuine) experiences are mostly overlooked in the literature. In this paper, we propose that consumers’ perceptions of authenticity of the replica (vs. genuine) experiences mediate their responses to these experiences. We further propose two sets of characteristics for the context — the experience characteristics (restricted experience vs. not restricted experience; distant vs. close proximity of the replica to the genuine) and the consumer characteristics (salient goal: collecting experiences vs. having fun/pleasure) that influence consumers’ authenticity perceptions of the experiences. Integrating theories and empirical findings in the experiences and authenticity literature, we found support for the proposed theory and hypotheses using two sets of field data from Egypt’s Luxor Tutankhamun tomb, one experimental study in a university art gallery, and four online experimental studies. The findings advance the literature on experiences and authenticity perceptions and generate actionable guidelines for managing, marketing, and consuming experiences.

Zeynep Gürhan-Canlı is Dean & Migros Professor of Marketing at the College of Administrative Sciences and Economics & Graduate School of Business at Koç University. Her research interests include consumer information processing in relation to branding and corporate image (brand relationships, co-branding, brand extensions, brand communications, corporate social responsibility), consumer experiences and inclusive business. She completed her Ph.D. in marketing at New York University, Stern School of Business in 1997. Prior to joining Koç University, she was a faculty member in the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. She has published several articles in leading academic journals. She received a number of awards and was tenured at the University of Michigan in recognition of her productivity and quality of her publications. She served as an associate editor for the Journal of Consumer Research and senior editor for International Journal of Research in Marketing. She is on the Editorial Review Boards of the Journal of Marketing, Journal of International Marketing, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of Academy of Marketing Science, International Journal of Research in Marketing and Journal of Marketing Behavior.