Purpose -This paper sets out to examine how social and personality factors influence Chinese consumers' attitudes towards counterfeits of luxury brands and how these two sets of variables influence purchase intention. It provides a profile of buyers and non-buyers of counterfeits of luxury brands. Design/methodology/approach -A self-administered questionnaire was designed using established scales. A survey was conducted in downtown Shanghai through the "mall intercept" method. A variety of statistical techniques were used to analyze the data. Findings -Status consumption and integrity are strong influencers of purchase intention, whereas normative susceptibility, information susceptibility, personal gratification, value consciousness, and novelty seeking had weaker influencing relationships. The attitude towards counterfeits of luxury brands is found to influence purchase intention. Collectivism does not influence attitudes nor purchase intentions towards counterfeits of luxury brands.Research limitations/implications -The findings are limited to Chinese consumers in Shanghai, which cannot be generalized across the whole of China or other international markets. Further, only luxury brands are considered. Other cultural contexts and product categories should be investigated in the future. Practical implications -The research provides an in-depth understanding of Chinese consumers' attitudes towards counterfeits of luxury brands. The research findings can be used to formulate strategies for academia, practitioners and, more importantly, policy makers to help eradicate, or at the very least curb, counterfeiting activities. Originality/value -The majority of previous studies focused on counterfeiting and piracy of music and other optical media, whereas this paper focused exclusively on luxury brands. Status consumption is also added as an antecedent towards attitudes and purchase intention of counterfeits.

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PurposeThis study aims to examine the influence of social and personality factors on attitudes towards counterfeiting of luxury brands and purchase intention between China Chinese and Taiwan Chinese consumers.Design/methodology/approach Data collection was conducted using a mall intercept approach in downtown Shanghai and Taipei. A self-administered questionnaire was developed and back-translated from English to Chinese and distributed. Structural equation modeling in LISREL was used to analyze the data. FindingsIt was found that collectivism has a positive relationship towards attitudes towards counterfeiting of luxury brands for the China Chinese but not for the Taiwan Chinese. Personal gratification was found to have a negative relationship towards attitudes towards counterfeiting of luxury brands for the Taiwan Chinese consumers. Integrity and status consumption were found to have a positive relationship towards attitudes towards counterfeiting of luxury brands for both the China Chinese and Taiwan Chinese consumers.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine how attitudes towards sweatshops, social norms and perceived behavioural control (PBC) factors influence consumers’ attitudes towards luxury fashion apparel made in sweatshops. It also examines how these variables influence purchase intention and ultimately the willingness to pay more for luxury fashion apparel not made in sweatshops. Design/methodology/approach – A self-administered questionnaire was designed using established scales. A survey was conducted through the “mall intercept” method. Findings – Underpinned by the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) model, attitudes and PBC were found to have an influence on intention to purchase luxury fashion apparel made in sweatshops. The intention to purchase luxury fashion apparel also significantly influences the willingness to pay more for luxury fashion apparel not made in sweatshops. Practical implications – The research findings can be used to formulate strategies for academia, practitioners and, more importantly, policy makers to help curb sweatshop activities. Originality/value – This paper focuses exclusively on luxury fashion apparels made in sweatshops. Status consumption is also added as a potential antecedent towards purchase intention.

Purpose This study aims to investigate the main and interactive effects of three employee attributes, namely, employee friendliness, helpfulness and respectfulness, on customer satisfaction in Mainland China. Design/methodology/approach A 2 × 2 × 2 between-subjects experimental design enabled an eight-scenario study depicting a service experience manipulated by employee friendliness (high/low), helpfulness (high/low) and respectfulness (high/low). Findings It is found that the effect of respectfulness has the strongest impact on customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction generated by helpfulness is higher when respectfulness is high rather than low, while the interaction between helpfulness and friendliness is not found, even though helpfulness exerts a stronger effect than friendliness on customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction is also maximized when all three positive interpersonal attributes all jointly presented. Interestingly, the absence of respectfulness tends to trigger a negative effect, while the display of friendliness results in a positive effect. Research limitations/implications Beyond the joint positive effects on service outcomes, different interaction patterns reveal that the display of friendliness is desirable and beneficial to enhance interpersonal outcome. However, the communication of respect is crucial, and, as such, managers and employees need to strive for a good balance on how to demonstrate these behaviours in critical moments such as service recovery. The findings from relative and interactive effects of three employee attributes are new in the literature and provide significant theoretical and managerial contributions for both researchers and managers. Originality/value This study takes the first step in decoding the cultural meaning of employee attributes through integrating Chinese traditional philosophy, Li (i.e. politeness), into a specific service setting by examining its comparative effects with other attributes.

Teah, M. and Lwin, M. and Cheah, I. 2014. Moderating role of religious beliefs on attitudes towards charities and motivation to donate. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics. 26 (5): pp. 738-760. 1 Moderating Role of Religious Beliefs on Attitudes towards Charities and Motivation to Donate PurposeThe study aims to examine the relationship between image of charitable organizations, attitudes towards charities and motivation to donate. In addition, the study will investigate the moderating effects of religious beliefs on attitudes towards charities and motivation to donate. Design/methodology/approachData is collected using a self-administered questionnaire. Trained interviewers employed a mallintercept method in downtown Kuala Lumpur over both weekdays and weekends. The scales are adapted from established sources. FindingsIt was found that religious beliefs moderates the relationship between attitudes towards charities and motivation to donate. In addition, image of charitable organizations has a positive influence on attitudes towards charities. It was also found that both image of charitable organizations and attitudes towards charities influence motivation to donate. Research limitations/implicationsThe study is conducted within downtown Kuala Lumpur and is not generalizable across Malaysia and other countries. In addition, this study only looked at general religious beliefs, therefore findings are not specific to a religion. As a result, possible religious differences may be neglected. Lastly, the study only focused on donors and further studies need to be conducted on non-donors to further understand donation behaviour. Practical implicationsThe findings from the study provide valuable insights to charities, government bodies and policy makers as it highlights the linkages between image of charitable organizations, attitudes towards charities and the motivation to donate of past donors. Additionally, religious bodies can also use the findings to formulate communication strategies to benefit charities as well as the broader community. Originality/valueThe study provides insights into the motivations of donors to donate to charities. More importantly, it also examines the influence of religious beliefs on donation behaviour, thus shedding insights on the opportunities for fundraising by charities.

The purpose of this study is to examine young consumers' motives for using SMS, their SMS usage frequency, and their attitudes towards SMS advertising. Factor analysis on the motives for using SMS revealed seven factors, namely convenience, social involvement, enjoyment, escape, personal communication, economical reasons, and public expression. The findings show that convenience and economical reasons influence SMS usage frequency. Social involvement influences attitudes towards SMS advertising. Managerial implications and limitations are also presented.

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