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Abstract This qualitative research was set within a literary heritage museum replete with replica artefacts. We explored how the inauthentic is negotiated in this context and examined the outcomes of these negotiations. Our research revealed that scene setting, freedom, and imagination contribute to visitors' potential to overcome the absence of indexically authentic artefacts, and we identified a role for existential authenticity in this process. We make three key contributions to marketing theory on authenticity: (1) when visitors are confronted with the inauthentic, they often experience feelings of dissonance; (2) there is a need to consider the role of authenticity of the ‘self’ in consumption situations; and (3) there is a symbiotic relationship between indexical authenticity and iconic authenticity, and both are related to existential authenticity. We recommend that the arts and heritage sectors delve further into the processes that suppliers and consumers use to negotiate the inauthentic so that they may leverage the support they have from stakeholders and enhance their viability.
Hede et al. (Fri,) studied this question.