Constructing generational identity through counterfeit luxury consumption

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to theorize counterfeit luxury consumption among millennials from a generational identity perspective. Design/methodology/approach The paper proposes and tests a model of counterfeit buying behavior using an online survey of 467 millennial respondents. The study uses multi-item measures from the extant literature and uses the structural equation modeling technique to test the proposed hypotheses. Findings The findings reveal when millennials have a self-defining relationship with their generation, they tend to internalize the generational norm pertaining to counterfeit luxury consumption. Millennials’ counterfeit related values: market mavenism, postmodernism, schadenfreude and public self-consciousness contribute to their generational identity. Moreover, market mavenism, cool consumption and public self-consciousness establish counterfeit luxury consumption as a generational norm. Practical implications The findings of this paper suggest that the expertise and influence of market mavens can be used to deter counterfeit consumption. Moreover, luxury brands must communicate a cool image to offset the rebellious image of counterfeits. Further, from a standardization versus adaption standpoint, the generational perspective allows for the standardization of anti-counterfeiting campaigns. Originality/value The paper makes a novel contribution to the counterfeiting literature by demonstrating that millennials pursue counterfeit luxury brands when they pledge cognitive allegiance to their generation. The paper, thus, extends the identity perspective of counterfeit luxury consumption to group contexts. The authors also test and validate the role of descriptive norms in group contexts by introducing the construct generational norm to counterfeiting literature.

How are ad scepticism levels of young consumers shaped? Testing with simultaneous quantile regression analysis

“…Previous research employed market mavens with other consumer-related constructs (Chelminski & Coulter, 2007;Cleveland & Bartikowski, 2018;Reinecke Flynn & Goldsmith, 2017), revealing its antecedents (Flynn, Goldsmith, & Pollitte, 2016;Gauri, Harmon-Kizer, & Talukdar, 2016;Zhang & Lee, 2014) and its significant and positive effect on different consumer behaviour outcomes (Gauri et al, 2016;Hanson, Kukar-Kinney, & Yuan, 2021;Rubio, Villaseñor, & Oubiña, 2015). In terms of generational differences, maven has recently attracted attention and has been subject to a limited number of studies revealing the general attitudes of a certain generation group (Hourigan & Bougoure, 2012;Khan, Fazili, & Bashir, 2022) or comparison between generations (Brosdahl & Carpenter, 2011;Goldring & Azab, 2021).…”

Self-Awareness and Self-Consciousness: A Review from the Perspective of Social Psychology

“…The study of Chao and Yu (2021) indicated that playing online games have negative impact on self-consciousness of adolescents. The study performed by Khan et al (2022) about generational identity construction by fake luxury consumption showed that public selfconsciousness provided contribution to generational identities of y-generation. Kuhn (2022) also made studies on online meeting media like Zoom, which were more commonly used due to Covid 19 pandemic conditions, in which a person could see himself/ herself on the screen.…”

A review of the literature on factors affecting organizational engagement of Millennials: Social identity and psychological entitlement perspectives

“…According to generational cohort theory, a generational cohort has distinctive characteristics and their integration forms a generational identity which can be considered as a social identity based on the fact that it is socially constructed (Joshi et al, 2010;Lyons et al, 2019). Generational identity is characterized by shared values (Khan et al, 2021;Lyons & Schweitzer, 2017). The degree to which individuals identify with a specific social group shows how likely they are to endorse the customs and values of that social group (Porck et al, 2019).…”

“…According to Twenge and Campbell (2008), generational differences arise from either psychological or technological differences. Generational identity of Millennials, which is derived from generational cohort theory and social identity theory, is associated with the shared values of Millennials (Joshi et al, 2010;Khan et al, 2021;Lyons et al, 2019;Lyons & Schweitzer, 2017;Porck et al, 2019). Millennials have been widely characterized as an entitled generation with unique work values (Allen et al, 2015;Credo et al, 2016;Harvey & Dasborough, 2015;Hui et al, 2020;Murphy, 2012;Naim & Lenka, 2018;Njoroge et al, 2021;Pasko et al, 2020;Schullery, 2013;Twenge & Campbell, 2008;Twenge, 2013).…”