RT Article
T1 Shame on You: When Materialism Leads to Purchase Intentions Toward Counterfeit Products
JF Journal of business ethics
VO 155
IS 2
SP 479
OP 494
A1 Davidson, Alexander
A1 Nepomuceno, Marcelo Vinhal
A1 Laroche, Michel
LA English
PB Springer Science + Business Media B. V
YR 2019
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1785668137
AB In recent years, counterfeiting has grown exponentially and has now become a grave economic problem. The acquisition of counterfeits poses an ethical dilemma as it benefits the buyer and illegal seller at the cost of the legitimate producer and with fewer taxes being paid throughout the supply chain. Previous research reveals inconsistent and sometimes inconclusive findings regarding whether materialism is associated, positively or negatively, with intentions to purchase counterfeits. The current research seeks to resolve these inconsistencies by investigating previously ignored interactions between three variables: risk of embarrassment, counterfeit detectability and product conspicuousness. First, risk of embarrassment mediates the relationship between materialism and counterfeit purchase intentions. Specifically, materialism negatively predicts counterfeit purchase intentions as mediated by risk of embarrassment. Second, this relationship only holds when the counterfeit can be easily detected. When it is not easily detected, materialism instead leads to positive purchase intentions. Third, these positive effects can be offset when the product is not highly visible. This research has important implications for marketers, manufacturers and academics and contributes to better understanding the antecedents of counterfeit purchases.
K1 Counterfeit detectability
K1 Product conspicuousness
K1 Intention to purchase counterfeits
K1 Risk of embarrassment
K1 Materialism
DO 10.1007/s10551-017-3479-5