Verso una comprensione multimodale dell'Autenticità d'impresa: prime intuizioni da un caso esplorativo

Authenticity has become a key condition for firms to appear credible and secure their "license to operate," especially in sectors where tradition, distinctiveness, and craftsmanship are central, such as wine. Although scholars distinguish several types of authenticity—type, craft, moral, and idiosyncratic—that can coexist and evolve, little is known about how these types interact over time and how different communicative modes shape their construction. This ongoing study adopts a multimodal lens to examine how firms build and sustain authenticity in practice, treating authenticity work as the orchestration of verbal, visual, material, spatial, and olfactory resources. Empirically, it draws on an interpretive single case study of GoldGrape, a medium-sized Sicilian family winery active in production and wine tourism, using interviews, photo-elicitation, on-site observation, and archival materials. The research expects to advance a dynamic understanding of authenticity work, develop a conceptual model of its multimodal construction, and offer practical implications.