The Impact of Consumer Ethics on Intention to Purchase Counterfeit Fashion Products

The issue of counterfeiting has long plagued many industries including fashion, automotive, electronics, and pharmaceutical. Companies face various challenges when it comes to dealing with the issue of counterfeiting, which results in financial implications, loss of brand reputation, and many more. From a consumer perspective, counterfeit is the cheaper option in a market where consumers are spoilt for choice. Advancements in technology have helped manufacturers of counterfeit to increase the similarity and to a certain extent the quality of their products to their genuine counterparts. Thus, the demand for counterfeit products in general kept rising over the years. This research looks at the influence of perceived behavioral control and consumer ethics in influencing consumer intention to purchase counterfeit fashion products. A partial least squares (PLS) approach to structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the data. Findings showed that there is a negative relationship between perceived behavioral control and intention and a positive relationship between consumer ethics and intention.