Brand authenticity and consumers’ willingness to pay a premium price (WPP): The mediating role of brand identification

This study seeks to understand the influence of brand authenticity on consumer willingness to pay premium price (WPP). Also, this study examines the mediating effect of brand identification in the connection between brand authenticity and consumer WPP to strengthen the model's capacity for an explanation. The target respondents for the study were hotel guests who visited or stayed in 4- and 5-star hotels, and a sample size of 395 responses was used. We employed structural equation modeling using the maximum likelihood estimation through AMOS 22.0 to test hypotheses. The study results show that brand authenticity positively influences brand attitude and attachment. Moreover, brand attitude, in turn, positively influences the WPP. Brand identification has a partial mediating influence on the link between brand authenticity and WPP. This study has significant implications for academics and practitioners. This study adds to the body of knowledge on brand authenticity by connecting it to the literature on consumer behavior. This study extends the idea of authenticity—being true to oneself—used to describe personal brands to how consumers see a service brand (hotels).