Routine activities and product counterfeiting: a research note

Abstract

Product counterfeiting has only recently emerged as an area of research interest for criminal justice and criminology scholars. As a consequence, criminological research and application of criminological theory to this phenomenon is limited at this time. This article proposes that routine activities theory provides an excellent framework for understanding the product counterfeiting phenomenon. The article reviews the basic tenets and concept of the theory, provides a brief review of the existing criminological literature that addresses product counterfeiting with special attention on the theoretical perspectives that have been applied until now, maps out a general framework for the application of routine activities theory to product counterfeiting, and identifies key indicators used to study product counterfeiting from a routine activities perspective. It concludes with a discussion on how this framework will enhance the understanding of the crime and identifies new avenues for research.