The role of authenticity in creating shared value: From the perspective of sports firms’ corporate image and customer loyalty

Authenticity is a decisive factor affecting customers’ judgment of corporate image from a firm’s activities. While much research has been done on authenticity, there is limited understanding regarding creating shared value (CSV) activities of sports firms. Thus, based on attribution theory, this study investigates the role of authenticity in the effect of sports firms’ CSV activities on corporate image and customer loyalty. The results showed that authenticity played an important role in moderating the impact of CSV activities. These results imply that it is important to consider authenticity when establishing CSV strategies, since the performance is largely determined by authenticity.