Advancing myself at others’ expense? The impact of social comparison on counterfeit luxury purchasing

Purpose Protecting intellectual property and curbing counterfeit goods are vital strategies for safeguarding corporate uniqueness. Despite anti-counterfeiting efforts in recent years, counterfeit luxury goods, continue to occupy a significant share of the consumer market. The purpose of this paper is to: explore the factor influencing counterfeit luxury purchase and identify the underlying mechanisms and boundary conditions in this purchasing behavior. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on Bourdieu’s theory of practice, this paper develops a theoretical framework and empirically tests it using data from 885 participants in China, recruited through the online platform Credamo. Findings Study 1 revealed that upward social comparison (vs downward social comparison) is more likely to stimulate individuals’ willingness to purchase luxury counterfeits. Study 2 examined the mediating role of moral perception in the proposed research model. The results of Studies 3 and 4 demonstrated that when individuals experience heightened moral salience or learn about luxury brand transgressions, their purchasing behavior is no longer influenced by social comparison, thereby attenuating the main effect. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to explore the effect of the core factor in counterfeit research – social comparison. It suggests that social comparison can effectively alter consumers’ moral perceptions of counterfeit luxury consumption, while this effect is eliminated in the conditions of high moral salience or present brand transgression. These findings enhance the existing research on social comparison and counterfeit luxury consumption, explaining the mechanism behind it and provides managerial insights on strategies to inhibit counterfeit luxury consumption.