A Goal-Striving Model for Consumers' Deliberate Counterfeit-Consumption Behavior

Abstract

Counterfeit consumption is becoming widespread, developing into a problem of international significance. In an attempt to develop a refined understanding of the motivations and decision-making processes of consumers' deliberate counterfeit-consumption behavior, this empirical study not only integrates the theory of planned behavior and insights from self-regulatory theories, but also extends these theories by re-conceptualizing the relationships among key constructs with the inclusion of action desire. This research also introduces and integrates a new construct, namely consumers' Perceived Counterfeit Detection (PCD) by important others.Using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods consisting of in-depth interviews and a self-administered paper questionnaire, this research empirically tested a proposed goal-striving model for deliberate counterfeit-consumption behavior, using structural equations modeling. Results demonstrated PCD's existence and supported a refined goal-striving model, based upon which effective strategies to decrease consumer's counterfeit consumption are discussed.