An Investigation of Determinants of Counterfeit Purchase Consideration

The primary purpose of this study is to examine the determinants governing the likelihood of considering the purchase of counterfeit branded products (CBPs) in the context of non-deceptive counterfeiting. The study anticipates and explores the effects of consumer-perceived brand image (i.e., brand personality, product attributes, and benefits/consequences), perceived risk, product knowledge, product involvement, and consumer demographic variables. Focus groups generated the criteria that consumers use to evaluate the studied brands; the main study then collected data from interviews. The results show that among the tested variables, brand personality performs best in determining consideration of the CBP. In general, demographic variables and product involvement do not appear to be significantly influential. The results also provide empirical evidence for Plummer's (Plummer, J.T. How Personality Makes a Difference. Journal of Advertising Research 1985; 24 (6): 27–83 (December/January), Plummer, J.T. How Personality Makes a Difference. Journal of Advertising Research 2000; 40 (6): 79–83 (November/December)) notion of brand image components; furthermore the results also suggest that perceived risks should not be part of the benefit/consequence component of the brand image concept.