Voluntary Purchase of Counterfeit Products: Empirical Evidence From Four Countries

Abstract

ABSTRACT Counterfeiting, i.e., producing and selling copies of branded products that strongly resemble the original, has emerged as a major problem for global marketers, rising dramatically over the past several years. Surprisingly, factors driving the demand for fake products have attracted far less attention than supply-side remedies. This paper attempts to redress this imbalance by investigating the demand for counterfeits. Specifically, we consolidate existing findings and develop a comprehensive yet parsimonious model of the antecedents and drivers of voluntary counterfeit purchases. Following the frequent call for more cross-national comparisons, we used a sample of over 900 consumers from Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Austria, and Mexico to test our model. This large-scale approach calls existing findings into question and raises provocative thoughts guiding future research in the area.