Luxury counterfeit consumption strategies in a collectivistic culture: the case of China

TY - JOUR

T1 - Luxury counterfeit consumption strategies in a collectivistic culture: the case of China

AU - Li, Jiahan

AU - Ghaffari, Mahsa

AU - Su, Lin

N1 - EMBARGO 12 MTHS This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Journal of Brand Management. The definitive publisher-authenticated version "Counterfeit Luxury Consumption Strategies in a Collectivistic Culture: The Case of China", (2020), DOI: , is available online at: <URL>

PY - 2020/4/21

Y1 - 2020/4/21

N2 - The purpose of this qualitative study is to understand the risk-reducing strategies used by Chinese consumers in a collectivistic culture to balance the psychological dichotomy they face when consuming counterfeit luxury products to construct their social identities. Consumers, on the one hand, are tempted to buy counterfeit luxury products due to their remarkable price advantages, whilst on the other hand, they are reluctant to use these products given the fear of being socially caught out. This dissonance intensifies in a collectivistic culture, where the concept of social face is important. The study involved reviewing a large volume of literature on the research of non-deceptive counterfeit luxury consumption, based on which, 26 semi-structured in-depth interviews among Chinese consumers were conducted to explore strategies used by consumers to construct their social identity through using counterfeit luxury products. In addition, the ways they select and use these products to avoid being caught out in order to maintain their constructed social identity were investigated. The data were analyzed by adopting Mitchell’s (1992) risk reduction framework and the findings illustrate the different strategies taking place through two separate consumption phases: pre-purchase and post-purchase. This research offers new insights into non-deceptive counterfeit consumption by introducing perceived risk and risk-reduction strategies.

AB - The purpose of this qualitative study is to understand the risk-reducing strategies used by Chinese consumers in a collectivistic culture to balance the psychological dichotomy they face when consuming counterfeit luxury products to construct their social identities. Consumers, on the one hand, are tempted to buy counterfeit luxury products due to their remarkable price advantages, whilst on the other hand, they are reluctant to use these products given the fear of being socially caught out. This dissonance intensifies in a collectivistic culture, where the concept of social face is important. The study involved reviewing a large volume of literature on the research of non-deceptive counterfeit luxury consumption, based on which, 26 semi-structured in-depth interviews among Chinese consumers were conducted to explore strategies used by consumers to construct their social identity through using counterfeit luxury products. In addition, the ways they select and use these products to avoid being caught out in order to maintain their constructed social identity were investigated. The data were analyzed by adopting Mitchell’s (1992) risk reduction framework and the findings illustrate the different strategies taking place through two separate consumption phases: pre-purchase and post-purchase. This research offers new insights into non-deceptive counterfeit consumption by introducing perceived risk and risk-reduction strategies.

KW - non-deceptive counterfeit

KW - social identity

KW - social risk

KW - risk reduction

KW - China

M3 - Article

JO - Journal of Brand Management

JF - Journal of Brand Management

SN - 1350-231X

ER -