The Importance of Being Earnest: The Authenticity of Reciprocity in Marketing Exchange Relationships

Abstract

Effective marketing relationships have been found to rely on the development of beneficial exchange behaviors. To fully understand the effects of these actions, it is important to examine what underlies and has a pervasive impact on the development and effects of these exchange behaviors; that is, reciprocity. While the extant literature has introduced two dimensions, this paper proposed that a third, perhaps even more important, dimension of reciprocity exists. Specifically, this paper proposes that the influence that reciprocity has been found to have on exchange behaviors does not rely only on what action is exchanged (i.e., equivalence) and when the action is exchanged (i.e., immediacy), but, also on how the action is exchanged (i.e., authenticity). Authenticity refers to the extent to which the action that is exchanged is exchanged in a genuine manner. Based on the motives and constraints attributed to the action, four types of the authenticity are possible: true inauthenticity, true authenticity, surface acting, and deep acting. By focusing on how actions are exchanged, each type of authenticity determines the symbolic value imputed to the benefit and that value directly influences the party’s decision of whether to repay the benefit and the determination of what an appropriate repayment would be as well as indirectly influencing exchange behaviors toward their partner.