Consumer Attitudes Towards Counterfeit Products Essay

Counterfeit up to nowts and materials ar knock-off, bootleg, pirated or other illegally produced materials that ar produced and sold in violation of the Intellectual holding Rights (IPRs) of others or in a manner that fraudulently represent their property or inauguration (Porteus, 2002). Despite the versatile anti- work efforts of multinationals and international shell out organizations, forgeing continue to pose a substantive and growing threat to harvest-homeion linees, both in developed and evolution countries (Vida, 2007 Maldonado and Hume, 2005).Vida (2007) observed that even in the face of technological advancements that facilitates easy scholarship of sure-enough(prenominal) harvest-homes, and the legal pressures buyers and sellers of talk through ones hat products, ball-shaped businesses still lose billions of dollars to molders yearbookly. The annual cost of hammering is estimated at $200 billion and the international trade in falsify products is bel ieved to account for amidst 3-5% of overall world trade.Most menacing is the fact that some(prenominal) bodies such(prenominal) as the transnational Anti-counterfeiting Coalition (IACC) and International Intellectual Property Institute (IIPI) agree that international trade in counterfeit product is booming. However, it should be emphasized that the contribute eviles delinquent to counterfeiting, annually, should not be flyerd in terms of the scotch loneliness caused to genuine product manufacturers, its effects on hundreds or thousands of jobs worldwide, increase in the cost of marketing genuine products, reduced brand equity and brand owner reputation.Most Copernicanly, the threat to consumer health and safety that counterfeit product poses cannot be overemphasized (Vida, 2007 Maldonado and Hume, 2005). Although, counterfeiting is a global problem, it appears to have a more profound effect on UAE for a number of reasons. Managing Intellectual Property, an internet cl ipping on counterfeiting, reports that while UAE is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, it is withal renowned for luxury, tourism, business and rapid development.Particularly, its free trade zone that offers attractive incentives for business, especially call qualified to its location at the centre of the Middle East and the Arab states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries also create the right environments for counterfeiters to market their products. The close proximity of the free trade zone to leading counterfeit producing Asian countries and its status as a transshipment hub also greatly increases the countrys problems with counterfeiting.A recent select carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers and reported in the magazine stated that counterfeit products make up to 68. 5% of automobile parts in the market, with false pharmaceuticals, the least hit sector, accounts for 0. 2% of products in the market. It is therefore very critical that all efforts mol diness be directed towards reducing this menace, and obviously, reducing counterfeiting, must involve be from the supply or the ingest view.Augusto de Matos, Ituassu & Rossi (2007) rightly dish out that actions towards counterfeiting can arise from both supply and take in sides. While performing from the supply side include instinct the incentives, rationale and factors that encourage or govern mess to engage in manufacturing counterfeits, the demand angle involves understanding consumer posts and allowingness to obtain off-key products (Vida, 2007).Authors have largely argued that the supply side of counterfeiting has accredited an un collectable amount of financial aid in recent times, with the demand side largely ignored. Also, it is an established economic fact that supply is driven by demand it is safe to suggest that the increase in global counterfeit trades is partly driven by the increasing consumer demands for cheap, substandard products. For example, the rise in the market for non-deceptive counterfeit products strengthens this argument.Thus, understanding the demand side could be the approximately important tool in fighting counterfeiting globally. In this regard, this paper, therefore, intends to analyse consumer posts or bequeathingness to purchase counterfeit products in Abu Dhabi utilise a questionnaire approach to turn tail the various factors and influences that shape consumer attitudes and behaviors when it comes to purchase counterfeit products. Theoretical FrameworkVida (2007) storied that since the mid 1990s when Elisabeth Hirschman, expressed the need for interrogationers to explore the dark-side of consumer behaviors, literatures investigating and explaining the various factors that influence consumer purchase behaviors, especially with regard to illegal or counterfeit products, have increased considerably. Building on the willingness to pay concept, Vida conceived explored consumers willingness to purchase circumv ent products.The author contended that demographic and socio-economic factors like age, gender, education, marital status, income and religiosity shape consumers attitude towards counterfeits, innovativeness (desire to be unique) and social pressure. These collar, in turn, influence consumers willingness to purchase counterfeit products. Also, Xuemei and Veloutsou (2005) in their exploratory involve, also reports that personal and social factors monumentally influence consumers purchase behaviors.The authors contended that personal and social factors such as look on consciousness, normality susceptibility, knickknack seeking and collectivism, and five attitude measures reliability of the product in question, functionality of the product, acknowledge social benefits of purchasing the product, risks of purchasing and legality of purchasing, influence consumer purchase of counterfeit products. The study found that alteration seeking importantly influences consumer purchase of co unterfeits products due to the confusable or sometimes, superior spirit of counterfeit products.Moreover, in a more elaborate study, Augusto de Matos, Ituassu and Rossi (2007) also found that expense quality illation and previous feature, among others, significantly increases the chances of consumers purchasing fake products. This study, drawing from the findings of the studies mentioned above, contends that a consumer attitude towards counterfeit product greatly influences their purchase behavior.It also hypotheses that previous experience with safety concerns, quality of counterfeits with respect to the price, and the intention to use counterfeits to test the product before purchasing the genuine brands, shape consumer attitudes towards counterfeit and subsequently, their purchasing of counterfeit products. Augusto de Matos, Ituassu and Rossi (2007) rightly point out that quality and price are devil fundamental factors that shape consumer purchase behavior. Traditionally, co nsumers believe that inflict priced products are of lower quality, and this is largely the case with deceptive counterfeit products.However, with non-deceptive counterfeits products, consumers are offered products of similar or superior quality, compared to the genuine products, at lower prices. The combination of low price and high quality is bound to rectify consumer attitudes towards counterfeits. For this reason, it is expected that Counterfeits with superior quality enhances consumers perception and attitudes towards counterfeit products. Safety concerns are one of the most important issues with counterfeit products. These products have been known to pose significant threat to consumer health and safety, especially when it concerns medications and household items.However, not all consumers consider counterfeit goods to be vulnerable or dangerous. It is expected that Consumers who consider counterfeit goods to be unsafe and dangerous will have unfavorable attitudes towards co unterfeit products, and vice versa. Lastly, bric-a-brac seeking can also influence consumer attitude towards counterfeit products. This sapidity refers to individuals need for a sense of worth or social realisation people always want to be seen as special and surefooted of affording material things. The increasing materialism in the world blind drunks that people that cannot afford the finer things of life feel unworthy.Since the presence of cheaper and yet quality counterfeit products provide the opportunity to afford these luxuries, individuals in the lower economic range are often willing to purchase such counterfeit products. Thus, it is expected that the sense of mutation influences consumer attitude towards counterfeit products. Method To investigate the influence of the factors discussed above on consumer attitude towards purchasing counterfeit products, this study surveyed a cross section of individuals in the city regarding their perceptions of counterfeit products.Th e research instrument adopted was questionnaire. The questionnaires, consisting of a hundred direct questions in Likert home base style, varying from 1 (completely disagree) to 7 (completely agree), were distributed to students on campus at several obtain centers. Because the questionnaires, in most cases, were self administered, respondents were encouraged to answer all the questions provided. payable to this, a total of 95 valid and usable questionnaires were collected at the end of the survey. Of the 95, 30 were below 20years old, 45 between 21 and 25 years old, with the rest above 26years old.With respect to education, more than half of the respondent had at least high school certificate, and interestingly, almost all of them (about 80%) had purchased counterfeit product in the past. Results Table I below presents the total number of questionnaires collated and the mean of responses for each of the variables under investigation. As presented in the table, the mean of respond ents who rated superior quality, inexpensive trials and novelty as important factors for considering counterfeit products were 4.4674, 4. 2211 and 4. 0053 on an individual basis while the respective standard deviation were 1. 16843, 1. 35759, 1. 17881 N Attitude tiptop Quality Tryout Novelty Valid 95 92 95 93 Missing 0 3 0 2 rigorous 3. 5447 4. 4674 4. 2211 4. 0053 Std Deviation 1. 33188 1. 16843 1. 35759 1. 17881 Minimum 1. 00 1. 00 1. 00 1. 00 Maximum 7. 00 7. 00 7. 00 7. 00 Table I To further measure the influence of these variables on consumer attitude towards counterfeit products, correlation coefficient was calculated for the variables.The result indicated that all three variables significantly influenced consumer attitudes, with superior quality presenting the most significant influence. For superior quality, r = . 668, r = . 395 for counterfeit products as sense of hearings, r = . 653 for novelty (correlation is significant at the 0. 01 level for all variables . ) As obv ious from the three scatter diagrams above, this study found a significant correlation between the superior quality of counterfeit products and consumers favorable attitude towards purchasing such goods.Also, the study showed that consumers see cheap counterfeit goods as an opportunity to tryout products before purchasing them or in other cases, as a better opportunity to own products they, otherwise, will not be able to purchase. Discussion and Recommendations Counterfeiting is a growing global menace resulting in the loss of several billions of dollars annually. In finding the right tool to fight this menace, researchers and insurance policy makers have focused on either the supply side or demand side of the problem, although, there seem to be more attention on the supply side.This paper argued that demand is a major device driver of supply and that by understanding the reasons and factors that encourage demand for counterfeits, the fight against counterfeiters will take a differ ent and better dimension. In truth to this assertion, several authors have investigated the personal and social factors that influence demand for counterfeit products. In contribution, this study investigated the influence of three variables superior quality of counterfeit products, using counterfeit goods as inexpensive trials before purchasing genuine ones, and novelty seeking impulses.The result of this study established the hypotheses proposed earlier that these variables significantly influence demand for counterfeit products. It is an established fact that price and quality are two major determinants of consumer purchase behavior. However, by presenting consumers with superior quality products at lower prices, the tendency to purchase these counterfeits products will be considerably high than the genuine product, because in doing so the individuals will be receiving higher value for lesser gold than if they have purchased the original.It, thus, becomes easier for consumers t o rationalize their actions. The case is also similar for the two other variables, counterfeit products offer consumers the chance of buying products they, ordinarily, will not be able to afford, or the opportunity to try the product before purchasing the original. In both cases, consumers are saving money and achieving their objectives. Recommendations It is apparent that, among other things, price and quality significantly drive demand for counterfeit products.Manufacturers of genuine should strive to provide consumers with products of similar or even quality, compared to fakes, at reasonable prices. Manufacturers should also stress the fact that by purchasing fakes, consumers are increasing the cost of genuine products and destroying the jobs of several others. For as Xuemei and Veloutsou (2005) pointed out, consumers are also influenced by the desire to be accepted by significant others, by emphasizing the moral aspect of purchasing fakes, manufacturers can significantly discour age consumers from purchasing counterfeit products.Conclusion Although, counterfeiting is a serious global problem, very little is known about why consumers choose to patronage such fake products. This study has shown that the superior quality of some fake products, their lower price, which enable consumers to try them out before buying genuine ones or to own products they would not have been able to afford, greatly improve consumer attitudes towards counterfeit products. It is recommended that manufacturers should strive to meet the quality and price of counterfeits to reduce the demand for fake products.References Augusto de Matos, C. , Ituassu, C. T. and Rossi, C. A. V. (2007), Consumer attitudes toward counterfeits a review and extension, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 24 No. 1 pp. 36-47. Maldonado, C. and Hume, E. (2005), Attitudes toward counterfeit products an ethical perspective, Journal of Legal, Ethical and Regulatory Issues, Jan-July. Managing Intellectual Property (2008), How to tackle fakes in the UAE, Available at http//www. managingip. com/Article/1940730/How-to-tackle-fakes-in-the-UAE.html (Dec 13 2008). Porteous, S. D. (1998), Organized Crime Impact Study Highlights, Paper Prepared for overt Works and Government Services of Canada, Cat. No. JS42-83/1998. Xuemei, B. and Veloutsou, C. (2005), Consumers attitudes regarding non-deceptive counterfeit brands in the UK & China, sword Management, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 211-222. Vida, I. (2007), Determinants of Consumer Willingness to Purchase Non-Deceptive Counterfeit Products, Managing Global Transitions, Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 253270.