Enabling and managing commodified authentic experiences: the high-class escort sector in The Netherlands

Our study identifies predictor benchmarks for the prospect of criterion authenticity outcomes in the context of girlfriend experiences provided by high-class, agency-based, female escorts in the Netherlands. Our case study of this legal market sector details the management context and task-specific employee behaviors that serve as predictors of authentic experiences. Based on our literature review and case study, we create a commodified authentic experience framework. The developed framework contributes to theory development by drawing attention to the inherent tensions involved in commodifying the authentic when denoting degrees of human intimacy. Moreover, the criterion-predictor method offers a generalizable tool for the analysis and assessment of emergent authenticity experiences across a range of consumer market sectors. Overall, the study offers an analysis of the commodification of the personal as shaped by the ongoing capitalist transformation of human relationships in contemporary societies.