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Corporate image and product similarity—Assessing major demand drivers for counterfeits in a multi‐country study
Author(s) -
Penz Elfriede,
Stöttinger Barbara
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
psychology and marketing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.035
H-Index - 116
eISSN - 1520-6793
pISSN - 0742-6046
DOI - 10.1002/mar.20213
Subject(s) - product (mathematics) , marketing , advertising , globe , psychology , similarity (geometry) , quality (philosophy) , business , image (mathematics) , computer science , mathematics , philosophy , geometry , epistemology , neuroscience , artificial intelligence
The demand for counterfeits has become a major headache for brand name manufacturers across the globe. This paper investigates two key demand drivers: (1) corporate image, in the form of evaluative and descriptive judgments of the original manufacturer and the counterfeiter, and (2) product attributes, split into physical, beneficial, and symbolic aspects, and their impact on consumers' intentions to buy fakes, based on the tripartite model of attitudes and by applying Peabody's concept of unconfounding evaluative and descriptive judgments (Peabody, 1984; Peabody & Goldberg, 1989; Saucier, 1994; Saucier, Ostendorf, & Peabody, 2001). In total, 1846 consumers were surveyed in six different countries: the United States, Austria, Mexico, Sweden, Slovakia, and the Ukraine. According to the results, corporate image and product characteristics show a strong impact on the consumers' intention to buy fakes. The relative importance of the concepts' sub‐dimensions, however, differs substantially across the countries selected. With respect to the corporate image, respondents use mainly emotional responses to describe the image of original manufacturers and counterfeiters, and they clearly distinguish them based on image. Product‐level comparisons revealed that looks, functionality, image, and physical appearance differed between originals and fakes across countries, whereas quality and durability of originals and fakes are perceived very similarly. The paper closes with managerial implications and avenues for future research. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.