Counterfeit Patronage: Human Values, Counterfeit Experience and Construal Level

Counterfeit-related studies have revealed motivational drives for counterfeit consumption. Little is known concerning the implications of consumers’ enduring and normative beliefs about proper standards of conduct as the determinants of counterfeit patronage. Drawing on the Schwartz theory of human values, experience literature and construal level theory, this research investigates counterfeits patronage by addressing three crucially important questions: 1) what personal values determine counterfeit patronage; 2) how do these relationships vary as a function of counterfeit experience; and 3) how do values have power in eliminating counterfeit consumption? Two studies provide robust evidence that self-transcendence values mitigate counterfeit patronage when consumers’ counterfeit experience is low. We also demonstrate that consumers who endorse self-transcendence values more exhibit higher levels of construal, which results in reduced counterfeit patronage.