Counterfeit Products and the Role of the Consumer in Saudi Arabia

Abbas N Albarq

doi:10.4236/ajibm.2015.512079

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to investigate the key antecedents of Saudi consumers’ attitudes toward counterfeit products. The study is also set out to examine the relationship of consumers’ attitude towards counterfeit product with purchase intention. The study adopted the self-administered survey methodology technique using a pre-validated pre-piloted questionnaire. The questionnaire was adapted from one previously used in Brazil. A survey of 520 respondents was selected in Riyadh market based on convenience-sampling method to test the hypothesized relationships using structural equation model (SEM) with maximum likelihood estimation. The empirical results from the structural model suggest that Saudi consumers’ intentions to buy counterfeited products are influenced by perceived risk, subjective norm, price-quality inference, prior purchase of counterfeits, and integrity. The paper reinforces the mediator role that attitude plays in the relationship between these antecedents and behavioral intentions. By having a better understanding of the consumers’ behavioral intentions of buying counterfeit products, the manufacturers and marketers of the genuine brand products can make better marketing strategies to entice the consumer to buy the original product and not the counterfeit version. Theoretical contribution of this study is an extension of knowledge of consumers’ attitude with regards to counterfeit products.

Highlights

Counterfeit goods are produced, distributed, and consumed at an alarming rate around the world
The results from the framework model showed that perceived risk was the most important variable for predicting consumer attitude toward counterfeits
The finding that consumers who perceived greater risk in purchasing counterfeits had unfavorable attitudes toward such products is in line with previous research into perceived risk [18]

Summary

Introduction

Counterfeit goods are produced, distributed, and consumed at an alarming rate around the world. Counterfeiting is a deliberate attempt to deceive consumers by copying and marketing inferior goods through emulating the style, design, and packaging of more expensive elite brands and offering them at a lower price [1] [2]. (2015) Counterfeit Products and the Role of the Consumer in Saudi Arabia. Albarq the Saudi Customs Department attempts to prevent the import and/or export of counterfeit goods, the system is not as developed, organized, and reliable as it is in other countries. According to the director-general of Saudi Customs, more than 62 million counterfeit products, with a value of approximately US$50 million, were confiscated at ports in Saudi Arabia over the past year in 2014 [3]. In a key move to combat counterfeiting, authorities confiscated equipment used to manufacture the fake products

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