Counterfeit Products and the Role of the Consumer in Saudi Arabia

Abbas N. Albarq

School of Economics & Administrative Science, Al Imam Ibn Muhammad Ibn Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

DOI: 10.4236/ajibm.2015.512079                

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to investigate the key antecedents of Saudi consumers’ attitudes toward counterfeit products. The study is also set out to examine the relationship of consumers’ attitude towards counterfeit product with purchase intention. The study adopted the self-administered survey methodology technique using a pre-validated pre-piloted questionnaire. The questionnaire was adapted from one previously used in Brazil. A survey of 520 respondents was selected in Riyadh market based on convenience-sampling method to test the hypothesized relationships using structural equation model (SEM) with maximum likelihood estimation. The empirical results from the structural model suggest that Saudi consumers’ intentions to buy counterfeited products are influenced by perceived risk, subjective norm, price-quality inference, prior purchase of counterfeits, and integrity. The paper reinforces the mediator role that attitude plays in the relationship between these antecedents and behavioral intentions. By having a better understanding of the consumers’ behavioral intentions of buying counterfeit products, the manufacturers and marketers of the genuine brand products can make better marketing strategies to entice the consumer to buy the original product and not the counterfeit version. Theoretical contribution of this study is an extension of knowledge of consumers’ attitude with regards to counterfeit products.

Keywords

Attitudes, Counterfeiting, Consumer, Saudi Arabia

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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