The first, titled ‘Consumers' Quest for Authenticity in Consumption’ will be a presentation of his research project following this Dr Bartsch will speak about publishing in his capacity of the Associate Editor for the International Marketing Review journal.

Dr Fabian Bartsh, IESEG School of Management

Biography

In his research, Fabian draws on social identity theory to study the behavior of cross-cultural consumer groups in a globalized market setting.   Fabian is originally from Luebeck, Germany. He completed his PhD studies at the University of Vienna with a focus on International Marketing in 2016. His dissertation focused on the study of cross-cultural consumer groups (e.g., global citizens, cosmopolitan consumers, ethnocentric consumers, etc.) in a globalized marketing setting. To date his work has appeared in leading outlets such as the Journal of International Marketing and the Journal of Business Research. Fabian is an active participant at leading international marketing conferences (EMAC, AMA, GMC).   His current research focuses on cross-cultural consumer groups, their behavior, and their inter-linkage in an increasing globalized society. Furthermore, Fabian focuses on global and local brands as key identifying symbols for global/local consumer cultures, the identification and the development of measurement instruments to capture cross-cultural consumer segments, as well as the impact of cultural intelligence on decision-making practices at a managerial level. In his research, he extensively draws on quantitative methods. His experience covers measurement theory, scale development practices, the application of structural equation models, as well as the analysis of mediation process in a consumer-related setting. 

Abstract

The concept of authenticity is gaining interest in research and managerial practice. While the focus has been on the supply side, investigating factors that make product offerings authentic, the demand side, or consumers' search for authentic market offerings, has been neglected. Informed by the literature, this article develops a psychometrically sound, cross-culturally and temporally stable scale to measure consumer authenticity seeking (CAS) as a set of three dimensions: indexical, iconic, and existential authenticity seeking. Using a comprehensive theory-based nomological network, this research introduces CAS as an important moderator between brand authenticity and outcomes and examines consumers' intrinsic and extrinsic motives that drive these effects. Finally, this research reveals different consumer profiles that managers can use for targeting and segmentation purposes.