Are you perceived as authentic? and what is authenticity?

We all know intuitively that authenticity sits at the core of any meaningful human relationship. Nobody wants to build trust with someone who feels opaque or artificial. This intuition becomes even more relevant when we move from personal contact to public presence. Humans can sustain stable social relations with roughly 150 people, a cognitive threshold identified by anthropological research as the limit of meaningful interpersonal connection. Beyond that range, our personal presence no longer does the job.

This is where personal brands enter. They act as our proxy, representing us when we are not in the room. They help others understand who we are, what we stand for, and why they should trust us. They create a vicarious relationship that allows people to engage with us despite never having interacted with us directly. For that to work, our brand must be perceived as authentic. If the public senses a lack of authenticity, the relationship collapses before it even starts.

Academic work in branding confirms what intuition suggests. A consistent body of research shows that authentic brands benefit from stronger emotional attachment, higher resilience in the face of mistakes, and deeper identification from their audience. These effects translate into behavioural outcomes such as loyalty, willingness to pay a premium, and a greater inclination to speak positively about your brand.

Here comes the interesting twist. Despite the importance of authenticity and the volume of research it has generated, scholars have not reached full consensus on what authenticity actually is. There is a general direction, but no unified and definitive theory. Over the past two decades, several models have been proposed, each capturing part of the phenomenon but none able to fully encompass it.

Despite this dispersion, one framework stands out for its influence and empirical rigour: the seminal model proposed by Morhart et al. (2015). Their work is widely considered the reference point because it offers a clear and validated view of the basic constituents of authenticity perception. According to this model, people perceive a brand as authentic when four fundamental dimensions are present:

• Credibility: the brand keeps its promises and acts competently.

• Integrity: it behaves according to clear principles and shows moral coherence.

• Symbolism: it represents values and meanings that resonate with its audience, enabling a sense of identity connection.

• Continuity: it shows stability over time, honouring its heritage and staying recognisable even as it evolves.

These four pillars form the most accepted basis for understanding authenticity in branding today. Other scholars have contributed variations. Bruhn et al. (2012), for instance, proposed continuity, originality, reliability, and naturalness. Several studies have explored how authenticity varies across sectors such as luxury, tourism, or high-tech. Yet despite these nuances, the work of Morhart remains the closest we have to a generalisable and foundational framework.

From a personal-branding perspective, this model offers a practical compass. To be perceived as authentic, a personal brand must demonstrate credibility through consistent expertise and fulfilment of expectations, integrity through values that can be recognised in decisions and behaviours, symbolism through a clear worldview and meaning that others can connect with, and continuity through coherent evolution rather than erratic changes of persona or message.

Let’s draw some conclusions that can guide how we think about our personal brand and how we make decisions about the way we show up in the world.

Authenticity must be treated as a perception, not an absolute property. What matters is how people interpret the cues we send through our work, our behaviour, our communication, our history, our promises, and our values.

Authenticity is multidimensional: functional (quality, reliability), symbolic (heritage, values, identity), relational (trust, transparency), experiential (consistency across touchpoints).

Managing authenticity requires coherence across all touchpoints: what we do, what we say, how we behave with others, and how we show up in our professional environment. When authenticity is forced or engineered as a tactic, it tends to generate the opposite effect, creating signals of pretentiousness, inconsistency, or distrust.

Authenticity pays off: it strengthens emotional attachment, builds resilience when we make mistakes, and fosters deeper identification. This creates greater loyalty, willingness to pay for our work, and positive word of mouth.