Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics

Factors affecting consumers intention to purchase counterfeit product: Empirical study in the Malaysian
market
Farzana Quoquab, Sara Pahlevan, Jihad Mohammad, Ramayah Thurasamy,
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Farzana Quoquab, Sara Pahlevan, Jihad Mohammad, Ramayah Thurasamy, "Factors affecting consumers intention to
purchase counterfeit product: Empirical study in the Malaysian market", Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics,
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 Factors affecting consumers intention to purchase counterfeit product: Empirical study in

the Malaysian market

Abstract

Purpose - Most of the past studies have considered social and personal factors in relation to

counterfeit product purchase intention. However, there is a dearth of research that linked ethical

aspects with such kind of product purchase intention. Considering this gap, the present study
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aims to investigate the direct as well as indirect effect of ethical aspects on the attitude of

consumers counterfeit product purchase in the Malaysian market.

Design/methodology/approach - A total of 737 questionnaires were distributed in China Town,

Low Yat Plaza, as well as a few pasar malam (night markets), which yielded 400 completed

usable responses. Partial Least Square Smart PLS software and SPSS were utilised in order to

analyse the data.

Findings - The results revealed that the ethical aspect in term of religiosity, ethical concern, and

perception of lawfulness directly and indirectly affect consumers behavioural intention to

purchase counterfeit products.

Practical implications - It is expected that the study findings will enhance the understanding of

marketers as well as policymakers about consumers purchase intention of such fake products.

Eventually, it will help them to come up with better marketing strategies to purchase counterfeit

products and to encourage them to purchase the original product.

Originality/value This is relatively a pioneer study that examines the effect of ethical aspects

of consumers in term of their religiosity, ethical concern, and perception of lawfulness on their

attitude toward buying counterfeit products. Additionally, this study examines the mediating role
 of consumer attitude to purchase counterfeit product between ethical aspects and behavioural

intention, which is comparatively new to the existing body of knowledge. Last, but not the least,

this research has examined these relationships in a new research context i. e., Malaysian market,

which can advance the knowledge about consumer behaviour in the East Asian context.

Keywords Counterfeit product purchase; Religiously; Ethical concern; Lawfulness; Malaysian

consumers
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Introduction

In recent years, counterfeit product purchase became a global issue due to its threat to the global

economy, as well as to the social and cultural aspect. Counterfeit products are unauthorised

products that use other registered goods trademark (Chaudhry and Zimmerman, 2009).

Counterfeit products can be categorised into different aspects, such as CDs and DVDs, watches

and accessories, shoes and handbags, clothes, electronic products, medicines, textiles, and

pesticides (UNODC, 2013). Such fake products abuse the high brand value, logo, package, and

trademark of the original brand. The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) reported that by

adding the amount of pirated digital instruments to counterfeit goods, the sum was worth $650

billion in 2008 alone (Marcelo, 2011). Furthermore, research conducted by the ICC (2009)

showed that international counterfeit products value will increase to $1.7 trillion by 2016, which

is equal to 2% of the current global economic output. Moreover, the Organization for Economic

Cooperation and Development (OECD, 2009) estimated that the counterfeit markets value is 5

to 7 percent of the global trade. Another negative impact of counterfeit products is the

unemployment rate which is associated with missing tax revenues. The unemployment cost,
 missing taxes revenue, and welfare spending due to counterfeit trade was $125 billion in

developed countries. Statistics from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in 2006 mentioned that

more than 750,000 individuals were unemployed due to the counterfeit product business

(Marcelo, 2011). Considering threatening impact on the global economy and sociocultural

aspects, the counterfeit product purchase phenomenon received significant research attention

(see Kassim et al. 2016; Tang et al. 2014) . Therefore, the present study attempts to investigate

the factors that can influence customers purchase intention towards counterfeit products in the
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Malaysian market.

Although the sales and purchase of counterfeit products became a global issue, the

reasons for consumers behavioural intention to purchase counterfeit product is not fully

uncovered yet. Most of the prior studies examined the counterfeit product purchase intention in

relation to social factors as well personal factors (Cheng et al., 2011). However, there is a dearth

of studies that have examined this phenomenon in relation to religiosity and consumers ethical

concern. It was argued that religious people tend to be more cautious regarding the cost, price,

and quality effectiveness of counterfeit products compared to less religious individuals (Vida et

al., 2012). In another study, Vitell and Paolillo (2003) indicated that intrinsic religiosity could

affect personal belief significantly. Again, it was also suggested that individual tend to support

moral philosophies that are idealistic rather than relativistic (Forsyth et al., 2008). In another

study, Casidy et al. (2016) found significant differences between religious and less religious

individuals in terms of their attitude towards digital piracy. Therefore, it is expected that

religiosity, ethical concern, and perception towards lawfulness can be considered as the drivers

of consumers counterfeit product purchase intention.

 It is reported that China, Thailand, India and Malaysia are named as Home for piracy

and worlds worst violator of intellectual property rights and worst counterfeit offender (Haqe

et al. 2009). Havoscope Global Market Index study (2010) shows that, in Malaysia counterfeit

product value has increased to RM 378 million by recent years. On the other hand,

Congressional International Anti-Piracy Top 10 Copyright Piracy Nations meeting announced

Malaysia as precedence copyright fake watch list for extra scrutiny to seize the counterfeit

products (Top 10 Copyright Piracy Nations, 2010). However, Domestic Trade and Consumer
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Affairs ministry has taken serious steps in order to increase the awareness about fake products

through main media and advertisements. But demand of counterfeit products did not change

which is a big threat for Malaysian economy.

Considering this, the present study aims to predict the direct and indirect effect of

religiosity, ethical concern, and attitude towards lawfulness in relation to consumers attitude

towards buying counterfeit products. The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Firstly,

relevant literature is reviewed and the conceptual framework is developed. Next, the adopted

methodology is discussed followed by the results, findings, and discussion. Lastly, a conclusion

is made and implications, limitations, and future research directions are highlighted.

Theoretical framework and Hypotheses Development

Counterfeit Products

Counterfeit goods are unauthorised products with low quality and standards that the original

producer did not manufacture (Nordin, 2009; Staake et al., 2009). These kind of fake products

affect authorised companies products by decreasing their profit, devaluing their R&D research,

and incurring legal fees (Nash, 1989). The range of product categories that were counterfeited
 has also shifted from luxury goods as practiced a few decades ago to all kinds of consumer

goods, including not only software, music, spare parts for vehicles and aircraft, cosmetics, razor

blades, washing powder, and clothes, but also food and pharmaceuticals, DVDs, CDs, electronic

devices, textiles, military items, wine, cigarettes, pesticides, and fertilisers (Mohamed, 2012).

The present study focuses on fashion and electronic devices. This is because the purchase

of counterfeit electronics devices has increased significantly in the last decade (Haque et al.,

2009; Taylor et al., 2009). Moreover, fashion has the highest rank of being counterfeited. There
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are different qualities in the counterfeiting of designer brands in the fashion industry. Most of the

time, the purpose is only to fool the unsuspecting buyer who only sees what is written on the

label, but there are occasions in which the forger tries to imitate the details for which the

particular designer is famous (Nordin, 2009; Yoo and Lee, 2009). It is common knowledge

among forgers that the buyer does not really care about the originality, but only wants to buy

branded-looking products with comparatively cheap price (Hidayat and Diwasasri, 2013).

According to Prendergast et al., (2002), counterfeiting is classified into two main

categories: (1) deceptive (when a consumer is not aware of buying unauthorised and fake goods

and he/she thinks that the product is original), and (2) non-deceptive (when consumers purchase

counterfeit goods intentionally and knowingly). In the first type of counterfeiting, the consumer

cannot be included for measuring behaviour and attitude towards buying counterfeit goods

because the consumer is not aware about the fact (Bian and Moutinho, 2011). Therefore, for the

present study, the non-deceptive counterfeiting issue is considered.

In the East Asian Region, Malaysia is one of the countries that have a high potential risk

for producing, exporting, and selling counterfeit products. The counterfeit product business is a

significant threat to Malaysia due to its economic and unemployment rate. By considering its bad
 impact, the domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry of Malaysia has attempted to control

counterfeit products by implementing and enforcing strict rules and regulation. For example, if

the police arrests a seller who is selling unlicensed software, he/she has to pay a fine of 10,000

Malaysian Ringgit or face a sentence of up to five years in jail, or both. Despite knowing the low

quality and danger of using counterfeit products, there are still high demand for counterfeit

products among the consumer (Albers-Miller, 1999). Therefore, it is pivotal to understand

consumers attitude as well as behavioural intention towards buying counterfeit products in the
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Malaysian market.

Consumers Attitude and Behavioural Intention towards Counterfeit Products

Attitude is a learned predisposition to behave in a consistently favourable or unfavourable

manner with respect to a given object (Ajzen 1991). In general, the relationship between attitude

and behavioural intention can be supported theoretically by the Theory of Planned Behaviour

(TPB) (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980). According to this theory, attitude is correlated with an

individuals intentions, thus it could be a predictor to estimate the behaviour (Ajzen, 1991; Phau

et al. 2015). Following this norm, the present study assumes that when the attitude towards

counterfeit product is favourable, it is likely that a person will buy counterfeit products; however,

if the attitude towards counterfeit products is unfavourable, the person may not buy counterfeit

products.

This relationship is verified in many studies in various disciplines (Chiu et al., 2016; Jee

and Ernest, 2013; Allameh et al. 2015; Yang et al., 2012). Nevertheless, there is a dearth of

studies that has examined this relationship in an Asian context, such as Malaysia. Therefore, the

present study assumes that a consumer who has a favourable attitude towards counterfeits
 (fashion and electronic devise) is more likely to buy it. Based on this assumption, the following

hypothesis was developed:

H1: Consumers attitude towards purchase of counterfeit product will be positively

related to his/her behavioural intention.

Antecedent of Consumers Attitude toward Buying Counterfeit Products

Ajzen and Fishbein (1975) are the one who have suggested a positive direct link between attitude
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and behavior. The theory advocates that beliefs affect attitude which in turn affect intention.

Various beliefs have been developed around counterfeit products that influence the attitude

towards these products For example, social factors, personal factors, and product factors (Phau et

al., 2009; Riquelme et al., 2012; Tom et al., 1998; Wong and Ahuvia, 1998). Nevertheless, there

is a paucity of studies that examined the effect of ethical aspects on consumers attitude toward

purchasing counterfeit product. As such, the current study focuses on addressing this gap in the

literature.

The ethics of buyers could be known as moral rules, standards and principals that lead

individual behaviour in the purchase, selection, usage, sales of goods and services (Vitell and

Muncy, 1992). For this study, three kinds of ethical aspects were considered: religiosity, ethical

concern, and consumers perception towards lawfulness.

Religiosity

Worthington et al. (2003) defined religiosity as individuals adherence to his/her religious

beliefs, values and practices and to which extent he/she uses them in every aspect of his/her life.

Religiosity is considered an important personal aspect based on the model pioneered by Hunt and

Vitell (1993). In this model, religiosity is assumed to have impact on the ethical beliefs of
 consumers in a positive manner. It implies that the ones who have higher spirituality/religiosity

are likely to be more ethical in relation to their ideas and beliefs. It is evident that religion has a

key ethical role in contemporary living (Graafland, 2015). Indeed, all of the deitys laws are

considered to be pure, which forms the whole life of a person. Faith instead of reason, secular

knowledge and institution are the basics of moral life in all religions (Shukor and Jamal, 2013).

Giorgi and Marsh (1990) demonstrated that both religion and the degree of an

individuals religious fervour have a positive impact on their personal ethics. Moreover, McCabe
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and Trevino (1993) noted that unethical behaviour is negatively related to severity for penalties,

such as the ones in the hereafter. Therefore, fear of Gods punishment in life and afterlife causes

religious people to maintain morality and virtue. Again, Kennedy and Lawton (1998) identified a

negative relation between religion and desire to do unethical actions (Vitell et al., 1993).

Therefore, it is expected that fear of Gods punishment prevents individuals in this life from

choosing an unethical path. Based on this assumption, the present study proposes that religiosity

is negatively related to consumer attitude toward buying counterfeit products. Therefore, the

following hypothesis is developed:

H2: Religiosity will be negatively related to consumers attitude towards purchasing

counterfeit products.

Ethical concern

The notion of ethics could be mentioned as principles, moral rules, or the standards that guide the

behaviour of a group or person in the purchase, selection, selling and use of services or products

(Riquelme et al., 2012; Vitell et al., 1993; Vitell and Paolillo, 2003). An individuals ethical

concern helps decrease unethical behaviour by considering the ethical aspect. It is a value that a

person possesses and could be interpreted to be the enduring idea (Schwartz, 2001). It can be
 defined as the degree to which the buyers believe the questionable behaviours are not wrong or

wrong, or unethical and ethical (Vitell and Muncy,1992).

Individuals ethical concerns in business arebeing studied since 1970s (Wilkes, 1978).

However, the ethical aspect of consumer behaviour has not received significant research

attention. Based on a different level of ethical concern, different individuals perceive the same

act differently. For example, in one study, it is reported that some consumers do not find buying

counterfeit products to be unethical (Lysonki and Darvasula, 2008). Contrastingly, Swami et al.
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(2009) found that older respondents were highly concerned and had less intention to buy

counterfeits compared to younger individuals. For the present study, it is assumed that if an

individual holds a high level of ethic related to idealism, he/she will realise that purchasing

counterfeit products is a wrong doing. Considering this, the following hypothesis was developed:

H3: Ethical concern will be negatively related to consumers attitude towards

purchasing counterfeit products.

Perception towards lawfulness

Individuals perception towards lawfulness is linked with his/her moral rules, standards, and

principals that lead the behaviour of an individual and/or group to purchase, select, use, and sell

goods and services (Phau et al., 2009). According to Kohlberg (1976), consumers personal

behaviour is the function of their sense of subjective justice. This means, the higher the level of a

persons moral judgment, the lesser that person will conduct unethical behaviour for personal

gain or for business purposes.

In regard to counterfeit product purchasing, it is assumed that if a consumers perception

towards lawfulness is high, then there is a possibility that he/she will exert a negative attitude

towards buying the counterfeit brands of luxury goods (Phau et al. 2009). Conversely, if the
 consumers perception towards lawfulness is not strong enough,he/she will tend to buy the

counterfeit brands of luxury goods. Therefore, the following hypothesis is developed:

H4: Consumers perception towards lawfulness will be negatively related to

consumers attitude towards purchasing counterfeit products.

Mediating Role of Attitude

The proposed mediating role of attitude can be justified based on Ajzens and Fishbein (1975)
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theory. According to this theory, beliefs influence attitude that in turn affect intention. If

consumer has positive beliefs about counterfeit products he/she is likely to develop favourable attitudes

towards counterfeits. As consequences there are more chances to form favorable intention to purchase the

counterfeit goods. Conversely, if the consumer holds negative beliefs about this type of product, he/she is

more inclined to develop unfavourable attitudes. In each instance there are fewer chances to form

favorable intention to purchase the counterfeit goods.

Beside theoretical justification empirical, evidences also exist. For example, past studies

found that attitude towards buying counterfeit products mediate the relationship between social,

personal, and product factors and consumer intention to purchase counterfeit products (Ang et

al., 2001; Bian and Moutinho, 2009; Chaudhry and Stumpf, 2011; Phau et al. 2009).

Nevertheless, there is a paucity of research that has examined the mediating role of attitude

between ethical aspects and consumer intention to purchase counterfeit products. Therefore, the

following hypotheses are developed:

H5: Attitude toward buying counterfeit products mediate the relationship between religiosity

and consumers intention to purchase counterfeit product

H6: Attitude toward buying counterfeit products mediates the relationship between ethical

concern and consumers intention to purchase counterfeit product

 H7: Attitude toward buying counterfeit products mediates the relationship between perception

toward lawfulness and consumers intention to purchase counterfeit product

Conceptual Framework

The proposed relationships among the study variables are shown in Figure 1.

Ethical Aspect:
Religiosity (RE
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Ethical concern
(EC) Behavioral Intention
Attitude Towards to
Buying Counterfeit
Purchase Counterfeit
Attitude towards Products (ATT)
Products (INT)
lawfulness (ATL)

Fig.1 Proposed conceptual framework

Methodology

Measurement of the Variables

All scales to measure the study variables were borrowed from past literature. Behavioural

intention was measured by using a 5-item scale adapted from Zeithaml et al., (1996), whereas

attitude was borrowed from Phau et al., (2009). The religiosity was measured by using five items

adapted from Shukor and Jamal (2013). This scale was developed at two stages: firstly,

qualitative data was collected using face-to face interview; and secondly, a quantitative data was

collected using a survey questionnaire. The findings of this study revealed that religiosity can be

measured as unidimensional construct that consist of five items. This scale found to be valid and

reliable and can be used by consumer researchers. Contrastingly, ethical concern and perception
 toward lawfulness scales were borrowed from Chaudhry and Stumpf (2011) and Lichtenstein et

al. (1990) respectively. All scales are showed in the Appendix. A seven point Likert scale was

utilised, which ranged from 1= strongly disagree to 7= strongly agree.

Study Location

The primary data for this study was obtained through the questionnaire survey. This study

focused on two major categories of counterfeit products i.e., fashion and electronic devices. The
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study was carried in China Town or alternatively known as, Paradise of fake products (named

by tourists), Low Yat Plaza; and a variety of local markets (pasar-malam or night market, day

market, etc.). In these markets, one can find plenty of branded and also pirated footwear, bags,

clothes, toys, accessories, watches, and electronic devices.

Data Collection Procedure

Since it was difficult to get a list of all elements of the population, non-probability sampling

more specifically judgmental sampling was employed. Using this type of sampling is a good

choice because it permits a theoretical generalisation of the findings (Calder et al., 1981

Mohammad et al. 2010). With respect to sample size, Churchil (1991) contended that the

number of surveys in a regional consumer study should range between 200-500 responses. Since

this study choses individual as the sampling unit, the sample size was needed to fall within that

range. Therefore, obtaining 400 valid questionnaires would be sufficient to analyse the data.

Additionally, respondents were required to be at least 18 years old since this group is sufficiently

knowledgeable to make decisions and have purchasing power (Norzalita et al., 2009). Moreover,

it is expected that respondents who are 18 years old are well informed about counterfeit products

in different ways, such as media, friends, advertismnet, etc. In total, 737 questionnaires were
 distributed, in which 450 questionnaires were returned and finally, 400 valid questionnaires were

found usable for further analysis. SPSS version 21 and Smart-PLS-3 were utilised to run the

analysis.

Profile of the Respondents

As shown in Table 1, the male frequency is 199 or 49.8% of the total, while female frequency is

201 or 50.2%. The minimum frequency from the total 400 respondents is equal to 32, and
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relevant to the age group of 56 and higher. In addition, the highest level of frequency was 128 for

the group aged from 26 to 35. The next question of demographics is for the educational

background according to six different groups. The minimum level of frequency from the total

400 participants is 10 from the doctorates. In addition, the highest level of frequency is 125 from

the Diploma/technical school certificate group.

<Insert Table 1 here>

Result

SmartPLS 3.0 software was used (Ringle et al., 2015) to analyse the model developed. Following

the recommended two-stage analytical procedures by Anderson and Gerbing (1988), this study

tested the measurement model and the structural model (see Hair et al., 2014; Mohammad et al.,

2015; Ramayah et al. 2013). In order to test the significance of the path coefficients and the

loadings, a bootstrapping (resampling = 5,000) method was used (Chua et al. 2015; Hair et al.,

2014).

Common method variance needs to be examined when data are collected via self-reported

questionnaires and in particular, both the predictor and criterion variables are obtained from the
 same person (Podsakoff et al., 2003). Common method variance needs to be examined when

data are collected via self-reported questionnaires and in particular, both the predictor and

criterion variables are obtained from the same person (Podsakoff et al., 2003). Harmans single

factor test was used, whereby all items are loaded in a factor analysis and if one factor emerges

explaining the majority of the variance, then common method variance exist. Our analysis

returned a 5 factor solution (2 = 25679.91, p< 0.01) explaining a total variance of 73.107%. The

first factor only captured 32.32% variance, thus we can conclude that method variance is not a
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serious problem in this study.

Measurement Model

First, convergent validity was confirmed when the loadings (> 0.70), composite reliability (> 0.7)

and average variance extracted (> 0.5) as suggested by Hair et al. (2014) and as shown in Table 2

were achieved. Next, discriminant validity was assessed using the Fornell and Larcker (1981)

method, which requires the square root of the variance extracted to be higher than the

correlations. This was also achieved in Table 2. Therefore, with these two tests, we have shown

that the measures in this study have sufficient convergent and discriminant validity.

<Insert Table 2 here>

Structural Model

Assessing the structural model involves evaluating R2, beta, and the corresponding t-values with

predictive relevance (Q2) (Hair et al. 2014; Mohammad et al., 2016). The R2 of Attitude was

0.508, i.e. all of the predictors explained 50.8% of the variance in Attitude, whereas Intention

had an R2 of 0.685, which indicates that Attitude can explain 68.5% of the variance in Intention.
 First we looked at the predictors of Attitude, Religiosity ( = -0.225, p< 0.01), Ethical

Concern ( = -0.220, p< 0.01), and Perception towards Lawfulness ( = -0.212, p< 0.01) were

negatively related to Attitude. Attitude was positively ( = 0.525, p< 0.01) related to Intention to

purchase. Therefore, H1, H2, H3, H4, were supported.

Next we looked at the mediation effect of Attitude on the IV-DV relationship. Religiosity

Attitude
Intention ( = -0.118, p< 0.01, BC0.95 LL = -0.0189 and UL = -0.043), Ethical

Concern
Attitude
Intention ( = -0.116, p< 0.01, BC0.95 LL = -0.165 and UL = -0.046) and
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Perception towards Lawfulness
Attitude
Intention ( = -0.111, p< 0.01, BC0.95 LL = -0.190

and UL = -0.042) were significantly mediated by attitude. Moreover, as suggested by Preacher

and Hayes (2004, 2008), the indirect effects did not straddle a 0 in between, indicating that there

is mediation. Therefore, we can conclude that the mediation effect is statistically significant,

indicating that H5, H6, H7, were supported (Table 3).

Hair et al, (2014) suggested that the blindfolding procedure should only be applied to

endogenous constructs that have a reflective measurement (multiple items or single item). If the

Q2 value is larger than 0, the model has predictive relevance for a certain endogenous construct

and otherwise if the value is less than 0 (Hair et al. 2014; Fornell and Cha 1994).In this study we

can see that all of the Q2 values are more than 0 for Attitude (Q2 = 0.325) and Intention (Q2 =

0.167), suggesting that the model has sufficient predictive relevance.

<Insert Table 3 here

Discussion

The objective of this study was to investigate the factors that affect consumers attitude and

behavioural intention towards purchasing counterfeit products in the Malaysian counterfeit

 market. To address this crucial matter, a research model based on the theory of planned

behaviour was developed to provide a more comprehensive understanding about the effect of

ethical aspects on consumer intention to purchase counterfeit products. Additionally, the

relationship between attitude and behavioural intention to purchase counterfeit products was also

examined. From the results, the ethical beliefs that impact attitudes towards counterfeits among

Malaysian consumers who have purchased counterfeits are: religiously, ethical concern, and

attitude toward lawfulness. Overall, the findings of this research indicate that all hypotheses were
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supported, and were consistent with the findings of other studies regarding counterfeit products

using theory of planned behaviour (Hernan et al., 2012; Perez et al., 2010). Moreover, the

predictors of consumer attitude to purchase counterfeit product explained 0.508% of the

variance, while the predictor of behavioural intention explained 0.685% of the variance.

In explaining hypotheses, data demonstrated supports for the link between beliefs,

attitudes, and behavioural intention to purchase counterfeit products, which is consistent with

TPB and past studies (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980; Phau et al., 2014). It implies that consumers

attitude toward buying counterfeit products is an important factor that has significant and

positive impact on behavioural intention to purchase. In the context of counterfeits, it is expected

that consumers with a more favourable attitude toward buying counterfeit products will have

more favourable behavioural intention to purchase counterfeit goods.

This study hypothesised that the ethical aspect in terms of religiosity, ethical concern, and

perception toward lawfulness to be the antecedents of consumers attitude toward purchasing

counterfeit products. The finding demonstrated that all of these aspects have a significant

negative relation on consumers intention to purchase counterfeit product. In other words, the

higher the level of an individuals moral judgment, a consumer is less likely to purchase the
 counterfeit product. This is in line with the theory of planned behaviour. This theory assumes

that individuals attitude towards a certain behaviour depends on his/her beliefs. More clearly,

religious and ethical individuals are more likely to restrain themselves from performing any

action that is against their principles. Furthermore, the result of this study is in agreement with

past studies that found religious and ethical people to be more motivated to show positive and

ethical behaviour in terms of citizenship behaviour, commitment, satisfaction, and avoiding

unethical products and services, such as counterfeit products, drugs, alcohol, night clubs, etc.
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(see Cohen et al., 2016; Giorgi and Marsh, 1990; Mohammad et al., 2015; Osafo et al., 2013;

Sawatzky et al., 2009; Tan, 2002; Tufail, 2016).

The ethical aspect works as the moral rules, standards and principals that lead individual

behaviour or a group in the purchase, selection, usage, and sales of goods and services (Vitell,

1992). As suggested by Hunt and Vitell (1986, 1993), spirituality/religiosity is an important

aspect that held on the ethical beliefs of consumers in a positive approach. It indicates that the

ones who hold higher spirituality/religiosity may be more ethical in relation to purchasing

counterfeit products. A possible explanation for this result can be due to the fact that religious

and ethical individuals have constructive views and opinions that influence their attitudes

positively in terms of love, respect, appreciation, and fear of God, society, and law. These

feelings restrain them from committing unethical behaviour, such as lying, cheating, and/or

promoting, buying, and using illegal products and/or services.

It was also found that, consumers attitude mediates the relationship between personal

aspects, ethical concern and consumers intention. This is consistent with the theory of planned

behaviour, which postulated that intention always mediates the relationship between attitude and

behaviour. The result was also in line with past studies that confirmed that behavioural intention
 can mediate the relationship between attitude and actual behaviour (see Riquelme et al., 2012;

Chua et al. 2016). More particularly, religious and ethical consumers are inclined to develop a

negative attitude about the counterfeit products since it is against and contradicts their values and

beliefs, and ultimately, they will not purchase these types of fake products.

Theoretical and Practical Contribution

This study contributes significantly to the theory and practice alike. Theoretically, this study has
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developed relatively new linkages i.e. the effect of religiosity, ethical concern, and lawfulness on

consumer attitude to purchase counterfeit products. Additionally, this is a comparatively new

study that tested the mediating role of consumer attitude between ethical aspects and behavioural

intention to purchase counterfeit products. This is likely to contribute significantly to the theory

of consumer behaviour regarding the consumption of these types of goods in a non-western

context. Most importantly, this study contributed to the theory of planned behaviour by

incorporating ethical beliefs as antecedent of consumer attitude. Past studies focused on three

types of beliefs n i.e., normative beliefs, behavioural beliefs, and control beliefs and less

attention was given to ethical beliefs.

Practically, this study has tested the direct and indirect relationships in a new research

context i.e., Malaysian counterfeit market. The output of this study emphasised the crucial role of

ethical aspects in preventing a consumer from purchasing these types of fake products that can

have a harmful effect on individuals, groups, and all nations socially and economically.

Religious organisations in Malaysia, such as mosques, churches, and temples are encouraged to

practice their main duties in inculcating and cultivating the religious values and beliefs that stress

on implementing and practicing ethical behaviour, as well as avoiding unethical deeds.

 Moreover, government, legislators, and decision makers in Malaysia are recommended strongly

to instil the ethical values, beliefs, and behaviour through the education system at the school,

college, and university level, to ensure better behaviour from the current and future generations

that can enhance, improve, and advance the quality of life in Malaysia. Additionally,

conferences, seminars, and public talks can be organised by private and public organisations to

address this phenomenon and to come up with some strategies that can help to control and

minimise its effects.

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Conclusion

Currently, counterfeit products are an important global issue because counterfeit and pirated

products are not only a threat to the global economy, as well as social and cultural welfare, but

are also harmful and dangerous to those who are not able to differentiate the fake from the

original. Increasing counterfeit products in the International trade market has led to different

problems around the world, and this issue is more significant because counterfeit products have

shifted from simple items, such as shoes and handbags to chemical products, such as medicines

and pesticides. In this instance, the present study investigate the factors that affect consumers

attitude and behavioural intention towards buying counterfeit products.

It is hoped that both academicians and practitioners can benefit from this study finding.

As mentioned before, even with awareness of all the issues related to using unauthorised goods,

the number of consumers of counterfeit products is rising around the world. It is expected that

this study would help the original marketers to have a better understanding of the consumers

needs and wants, which will eventually help them to better strategize their marketing efforts.
 Although the present study has its merits in regards to testing reasonably new linkages

and to providing some useful findings regarding this issue, it is not beyond of some limitations.

However, the limitations of this study may serve as the future research directions for other

studies in the field. As suggestions for future studies, one could test the model presented here in

different product categories (such as CDs, DVDs, food, toys, etc.) and examine for possible

differences. It is also recommended that other variables can be included in the model as

moderator, such as consumer involvement with the product, gender and ethnicity. This is because
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when consumers are more involved with the product, he/she should be more worried about the

buying decision and have a higher risk aversion. In a nutshell, this study opens up the avenue for

future researchers and calls for more relevant studies to be conducted in this field.

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About the author

Farzana Quoquab is a senior lecturer at International Business School, UTM. She has received
her Doctorate of Business Administration degree from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. She has
presented papers at international and national conferences and published articles in peer-
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reviewed international journals such as Economics and Technology Management Review, Asia
Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics and Asian Academy of Management Journal.

Sarah Pahlevan is a MBA student at International Business School, UTM. Her focus of the
research is consumer behaviour.

Jihad Mohammad is senior lecturer at International Business School, UTM. He has received his
DBA degree from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. He has presented papers at various
international and national conferences and published articles in peer-reviewed international
journals. He has versatile career exposure. His current research interest includes organizational
citizenship behavior, work ethics, and consumer behavior.

Ramayah Thurasamy is a Professor at the School of Management in USM. He teaches mainly

courses in Research Methodology and Business Statistics and has also conducted training
courses for the local government (Research Methods for candidates departing overseas for higher
degree, Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam). Apart from teaching, he is an avid researcher, especially
in the areas of technology management and adoption in business and education. His publications
have appeared in Computers in Human Behavior, Resources Conservation and Recycling,
Journal of Educational Technology & Society, Direct Marketing: An International Journal,
Information Development, Journal of Project Management (JoPM), Management Research News
(MRN), International Journal of Information Management, International Journal of Services and
Operations Management (IJSOM), Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management
(ECAM) and North American Journal of Psychology.
 Table 1

Demographic profile of the respondents

Number of
Demographics Percentage (%)
respondents (N=400)

Gender
i. Male 199 49.8
ii.Female 201 50.2
Age
i. below 25 80 20.0
ii. 26-35 128 32.0
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iii. 36-45 104 26.0

iv. 46-55 56 14.0
vi. 56 and above 32 8.0
Ethnicity
i. Malay 201 50.2
ii. Chinese 123 30.8
iii. Indian 53 13.2
iv. others 23 5.8
Marital status
i. Single 168 42.0
ii. Married 203 50.8
iii. Divorced 22 5.5
iv. Widow/widower 7 1.8
Educational background
i. Primary school certificate 75 18.8
ii. Secondary school certificate 83 20.8
iii. Diploma/technical school certificate 125 31.2
iv. Bachelor Degree or equivalent 81 20.2
v. Master Degree 26 6.5
vi. Doctoral degree 10 2.5
Income
i. Below 2000 65 16.2
ii. 2001-3000 126 31.5
iii. 3001-4000 108 27.0
iv. 4001-5000 67 16.8
v. above 5001 34 8.5
 Table 2

Descriptive, Convergent and Discriminant Validity of Measures

Mean SD AVE CR 1 2 3 4 9

1. ATL 3.73 1.39 0.67 0.89 0.82

2. ATT 4.43 1.09 0.51 0.86 0.66 0.71

3. EC 3.69 1.31 0.70 0.87 0.81 0.56 0.83

4. INT 3.94 1.39 0.68 0.91 0.62 0.52 0.50 0.82

5. RE 3.78 1.46 0.74 0.85 0.8 0.62 0.76 0.60 0.86

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Note: Values in the diagonal bolded are square root of AVE while the of-diagonals are correlations
 Table 3

Hypotheses Testing

Hypothesi Relationship Std Std Error t-value Decision BC 95% BC 95%

s Beta LL UL

H1 Attitude -> Intention 0.52 0.03 13.35** Supported 0.46 0.61

H2 Religiosity -> Attitude -0.22 0.06 3.34** Supported 0.07 0.32

H3 EC -> Attitude -0.22 0.05 3.94** Supported -0.31 -0.08

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H4 ATL -> Attitude -0.21 0.06 3.09** Supported 0.09 0.36

H5 Religiosity -> Attitude -> -0.11 0.03 3.17**

Intention Supported -0.18 -0.04

H6 EC -> Attitude -> -0.11 0.02 3.99** Supported -0.16 -0.04

Intention

H7 ATL -> Attitude -> -0.11 0.03 2.92**

Intention Supported -0.19 -0.04

**p< 0.01, *p< 0.05

 Appendix

Ethical concern
1 Counterfeiting infringes on intellectual property rights

2 Counterfeiting damages the original industry.

3 Obtaining counterfeit goods is illegal.

4 Obtaining counterfeit goods is unethical.

Religiosity

4 I believe in God.
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6 I carefully avoid shameful acts.

7 I always perform my duty to God.

8 It is important for me to follow Gods Commandments conscientiously.

9 Religious beliefs influence all my dealings with everyone.

Attitude toward lawfulness

10 A person should obey the laws no matter how much they interfere with personal
ambitions.
11 A person should tell the truth in court, regardless of the consequences.

12 A person is justified in giving a false testimony to protect a friend on trial.

13 It is all right for a person to break the law if he or she does not get caught.

Attitude toward buying counterfeit product

14 Generally speaking, counterfeit products have satisfying quality

15 Generally speaking, counterfeit products are practical

16 Generally speaking, counterfeit products are reliable

17 For me, to buy/use counterfeit products is virtue of thrift (Economics)

18 For me, to buy/use counterfeit products is convenient

19 For me, to buy/use counterfeit products is wise

20 For me, to buy/use counterfeit products is proud

21 For me, to buy/use counterfeit products is guiltless

 Behavioral intention
22 I say positive things about the counterfeit product to other people.

23 I recommend counterfeit product to someone who seeks my advice.

24 I encourage friends and relatives to buy counterfeit products.

25 I consider counterfeit product as my first choice to buy compared to other expensive

original product.
26 I shall buy more counterfeit products in future.
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