Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to create a framework for broadly understanding categories and motivations behind purchasing different counterfeit products. Design/methodology/approach – Focus groups provided qualitative data from 509 counterfeit purchases incidents by 95 informants. Findings – The most frequently mentioned motivation was the utility (35 percent) received from the good over the genuine article. The second, but negative, motivation was the perceived risk involved in the purchase (22 percent), whether it is physical or social risk. Social norms, confusion, and ethical concerns each represented about 10 percent of the motivations toward the purchase of counterfeit items. The least mentioned motivations to purchase, at less than 4 percent each, were culture, habit, and desire to explore. These factors were evident across a variety of 15 product categories, headed by electronics, such as DVDs and computer software. Practical implications – Through targeting negative motivations, such as perceived physical and social risks, businesses can devise strategies from a demand side perspective to overcome the problem of counterfeit consumption. Originality/value – Qualitative responses, over many product categories, provide a unique overview to the perception of counterfeit consumption. The finding that consumer ethics may depend on whether the activity benefits the society as a whole is worthy of additional discussion. The authors learn that when consumers thought their counterfeit consumption caused little or no harm, they do not see much ethical concern in their actions.

Virtue ethics is regarded as the key in search of moral excellence among corporations. Yet, there are limited works to empirically investigate what virtuous character morally good corporations is expected to exhibit in the course of business from the perspective of customers. To fill this gap, we argue that customers are to evaluate firm's virtuous character using Confucian cardinal virtues (ren, yi, and li) and perceived virtuousness determines customer loyalty. We test this argument using a sample of 276 Hong Kong Chinese. The result suggests that a corporation not only has to offer a good value and high quality to customers but also needs to develop and acquire virtuous character in retaining customer loyalty. Firm has to embrace ren, yi, and li as the primary business goal. In fact, they are not the means but the end in themselves. The continuous pursuit of these cardinal virtues at the firm level not only establishes proper corporate values but also enables a firm to act morally in the course of business. Such kind of firm is known as junzi corporation.

PurposeThis research aims to generate new insights into consumer ethics by tapping into business executives' first-hand experience. The overarching goal of this novel, discovery-oriented approach is to illuminate the interactive relationships between business and consumer ethics, and to offer contextualized insights into consumers' (un)ethical behaviors.Design/methodology/approachThree focus group interviews were conducted with senior business executives representing nine different industry sectors. Thematic analysis was performed to identify key themes for an integrative model.FindingsFour key themes emerged, highlighting: (1) the mutual influence between business and consumer ethics, (2) the nature and intensity of consumer ethics, (3) the dual influence of digital communication, and (4) the partial influence of consumer education. The themes gave rise to an integrative conceptual model.Research limitations/implicationsThis research was limited somewhat by the small and judgmental sample.Practical implicationsConsumers' growing demands for business ethics underscore the need for companies to elevate ethical considerations. The amplified consumer voice on social media is dreaded by business practitioners and is regarded as unethical consumer behavior to be actively managed.Social implicationsBusiness and consumer ethics can mutually influence each other in a benign or vicious circle. Consumer education is effective in some but not all domains.Originality/valueBusiness practitioners' insights reveal (1) the interactivity of business and consumer ethics and (2) the diversity of (un)ethical consumer behaviors. They point to the need for an enriched definition of consumer ethics and an expansion on the categorical structure of consumers' (un)ethical practices.

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