Effects of cognitive resource availability on consumer decisions involving counterfeit products: The role of perceived j
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Effects of cognitive resource availability on consumer decisions involving counterfeit products: The role of perceived justification Jungkeun Kim & Jae-Eun Kim & Jongwon Park
Published online: 19 June 2012 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012
Abstract In four experiments, participants made a purchase decision about a counterfeit product under either constrained or unconstrained cognitive resource conditions. Participants were less likely to purchase the counterfeit when their cognitive resources were constrained than when they were not. However, this difference was evident only when individuals had strong (vs. weak) moral beliefs, or when they had low (vs. high) accountability for their decisions. These and other results suggest that the effect of cognitive resource availability on counterfeit purchase was mediated by participants’ perceptions of justification about the purchase. Keywords Counterfeit products . Cognitive resource availability . Accountability . Illegal consumption . Moral decision making Consumers may occasionally engage in various types of unethical behaviors, including shoplifting, fraudulent returns, financial fraud, coupon misredemption, and purchase of counterfeit products (Fullerton and Punj 2004; Muncy and Vitell 1992). Among them, counterfeit purchase has received a particular attention from consumer behavior researchers (e.g., Tom et al. 1998; Wilcox et al. 2009). For one thing, counterfeit purchase accounts for approximately 7 % of the world’s merchandise trade and $600 J. Kim (*) : J.-E. Kim Department of Marketing, Advertising, Retailing, and Sales, AUT University, Private Bag 92006, Auckland 1142, New Zealand e-mail: [email protected] J.-E. Kim e-mail: [email protected] J. Park Department of Business Administration, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea 136-701 e-mail: [email protected]
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Mark Lett (2012) 23:869–881
billion (International Anticounterfeiting Coalition 2011). The product categories of counterfeits have been extended, including not only luxury fashion brands but also high-tech goods such as software, electrical appliances, automobile parts, and pharmaceuticals (Grossman and Shapiro 1998; Guttierez et al. 2006). The purpose of the present research is to increase our understanding of when and why consumers may engage in counterfeit purchases. Specific reasons for purchasing counterfeits may vary over product categories and individual consumers, yet, price benefit is consistently one of the most common and important motives for counterfeit purchase (Cordell et al. 1996; Wee et al. 1995). On the other hand, purchasing counterfeit products which are illegal copies of original branded products is undoubtedly unethical and should be avoided (Moores and Chang 2006). Nevertheless, consumers often purchase these products even when they know that the products are counterfeits1 (Cordell et al. 1996; Grossman and Shapiro 1998). The question is when consumers decide to purchase counterfeits and what factors enter into their decisions. Consumers’ purchase of a counterfeit is o
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