Do you consider buying a counterfeit? New evidence from the theory of planned behaviour and cognitive dissonance theory

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the impact of perceived risk, ethical judgement, value consciousness, susceptibility to social influence and neutralisation on counterfeit clothes and accessories purchase intention in Egypt. Design/methodology/approach A single cross-sectional survey was conducted. Questionnaires were used to collect data from 361 counterfeit buyers in Egypt. To test the hypotheses, partial least squares-structural equation model was applied. Findings The results indicate that neutralisation, perceived risk and susceptibility to social influence significantly impact attitudes towards counterfeiting and purchase intentions, whereas value consciousness impacts counterfeit purchase intention. In addition, attitudes mediate the effects of perceived risk, susceptibility to social influence and neutralisation on purchase intention. Practical implications Brand producers/retailers and the government need to adhere to a number of practices to curb counterfeit demand, mainly by tackling the neutralisation’s impacts, demonstrating various risks of counterfeiting and developing a collective attitude against counterfeiting. Originality/value This study contributes to the ethical decision-making literature by empirically testing and quantifying the impact of neutralisation on shaping counterfeit buyers’ attitudes and purchase intention.

Public health promotion of COVID-19 vaccination to rural consumers: synthesising the role of social media and religious belief systems

“…Closely related to the current study was the cognitive dissonance theory which was developed by Leon Festinger in 1957 (Harmon-Jones and Mills, 2019). Briefly, the theory referred to people’s reactions to conflicting attitudes, beliefs and behaviour (Garas et al , 2023). The theory articulates that people desire to have harmony between their attitudes and beliefs, on one side and ultimate behaviour on the other side (Barta et al , 2023).…”

“…To the contrary, two opposing cognitions are dissonant (Harmon-Jones and Harmon-Jones, 2002). The uncomfortable dissonance could be reduced by changing current beliefs, changing behaviour or changing the perception of the person to the behaviour (Garas et al , 2023). The belief-disconfirmation paradigm of the cognitive dissonance theory noted that people experience increased dissonance when information they have been exposed to is in conflict with their beliefs (Gawronski et al , 2014).…”

Factors predicting young consumers’ purchase intention of non-deceptive counterfeit: evidence from Gulf countries

“…Another catchy term of non-deceptive counterfeit is found in the literature as “Copycat”. Consumers are consciously willingly looking for such non-deceptive counterfeited (copycat) products (Garas et al , 2022; Nagar, 2021). Thus, in case of non-deceptive counterfeit transactions, both the parties (the buyer and the seller) are clearly aware regarding the status of the product.…”

Complied by Belief Consistency: The Cognitive-Information Lens of User-Generated Persuasion

“…Cognitive inconsistency causes people to feel psychologically uncomfortable and, thus, resist seeking information that may increase the dissonance of cognitions [43]. Recent studies have widely applied cognitive dissonance theory to address how people's belief systems work, such as customer participation in service recovery [44], the order of evidence presentation in criminal law trials [45], consumer attitudes towards counterfeiting and purchase intentions [46], and employees' compliance with collective beliefs regardless of individuals' belief systems [47]. This study does not address the conflicts of cognitive dissonance-whether to change the behavior so as to avoid regretful conduct, or the cognition for avoiding psychologically uncomfortable feelings.…”