Do Consumer Innovativeness and Consumer Materialism Drive Purchase of Counterfeit Brands?

Abstract

Counterfeiting is a serious problem in Asian countries. Despite its prevalence, prior research has paid limited attention to examine how consumer personality and product-related factors affect counterfeit consumption in these countries. The current research aims to investigate how consumer innovativeness, consumer materialism, and price-quality inference influences purchase intentions of counterfeits (PIC). It also investigates the mediating role of attitude toward counterfeits (ATC) to strengthen the model.The data, collected from a convenience sample of310 consumers, was analysed using structural equation modelling. The results show that while consumer innovativeness and materialism positively effect ATC and PIC, price-quality inference has a negative impact on ATC and PIC. This research contributes to counterfeit consumption research by uncovering the role of both personality- and product-related factors in counterfeit consumption. These findings would be useful for manufacturers and marketers of original brands in devising appropriate strategies to combat purchase of counterfeit brands.