Investigation of Antecedents of Purchase Intention Toward Counterfeits – Implications From Culturally Diverse Countries

The sale of counterfeit products made up to seven percent of the world trade volume that amounts to an increase of 10,000 percent in the last two decades (IACC 2009). Since firms manage their brands across many markets, marketers should understand which are the relevant antecedents that impact illicit consumer behavior and how these antecedents vary across countries. Even counterfeiting is a cross-national phenomenon, its antecedents have rarely been investigated cross-nationally. Brand manufactures of illegally copied brands sustain damage: the brand’s equity is jeopardized and the consumer’s demand is diverted into gray markets (Green and Smith 2002). Nevertheless, Nia and Zaichkowski (2000) note that consumers’ majority “did not believe that counterfeits decrease the demand for original luxury brand name products” (Nia and Zaichowski 2000, 494). Commuri (2009) states that the impact of counterfeiting on consumers of genius goods (originals) is little-noticed. Thus, a further investigation of counterfeits’ impact on originals is needed. In their literature review Eisend and Schuchert-Güler (2006) note person-related antecedents such as demographics, product-related antecedents such as price, social as well as cultural context, and purchase situation that drive the purchase of counterfeits. They emphasize a more solid theoretical grounding for further studies and call for cross-cultural investigations to illuminate potential differences among the antecedents (Eisend and Schuchert-Güler 2006). The purpose of the following study is to examine antecedents of purchase intention toward counterfeits (PItC) and its influence on consumers’ willingness to pay for the original (WtPO).