(Un)ethical consumer behavior: Robin Hoods or plain hoods?

Abstract

Purpose -This paper seeks to assess the impact of consumer ethics and their piracy attitudes on piracy behaviors. The extent of such piracy is difficult to estimate because no worldwide statistics are available, but conservative estimates indicate that it costs manufacturers billions of dollars. Design/methodology/approach -The research was conducted using Israeli consumers through a structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed mostly through regression models. Findings -Attitudes to piracy served as a partial mediator of the impacts of consumer morals and ethics on actual piracy.Research limitations/implications -The major limitation is the use of a convenience sample and future research should replicate and extend this study using random samples. Practical implications -First, firms should advertise piracy as unethical. This would result in recognition of unethical piracy behavior by some part of the population. For piracy reduction, such people should recognize the need to "balance the ethical book" within the same context of behavior. In other words, if they have pirated from a company in the past, such people should be encouraged to purchase from the same company in the future. Originality/value -The paper assesses the impact of consumer ethics and their piracy attitudes and behaviors.

Counterfeit purchase typologies during an economic crisis

“…Other studies used various established theories such as Fishbein and Ajzen's (1975), Theory of Reasoned Action (i.e., Shoham et al, 2008;Marcketti and Shelly, 2009), Ajzen's (1991) Theory of Planned Behavior (i.e., Fernades, 2013;Penz and Stottinger, 2005), and Kohlberg's (1976) Theory of Moral Reasoning (i.e., Phau et al, 2009) in order to explain the purchase of luxury brand counterfeits. Furthermore, the work of Yoo and Lee (2009) identified that consumer interest in buying counterfeit products may be affected by a number of factors such as their beliefs about the economic and hedonic benefits of counterfeit purchases, their previous purchases of originals, and their perceived future social status and self-image.…”

Examination of Attitudinal and Intentional Drivers of Non-Deceptive Counterfeiting in a South Asian Context

“…TRA is capable of explaining the relationship between attitudes and intentions. It has been applied to explain the consumers' attitudes toward counterfeits (see Shoham et al 2008). However, original framework of TRA cannot explain all the variances in the consumer buying behavior; therefore, inclusion of other relevant variables in TRA framework is necessary.…”

Studying the Factors Affecting Consumers Complicity with Counterfeit Products

“…According to Shoham et al, (2008), two groups of ethical ideologies have been chosen in order to determine which of these two (idealism and relativism) has a stronger relationship with consumer complicity. According to Singh et al, (2007), this scale of idealism and relativism has been cited by the present researchers to develop their theories which are related to the consumers or managers' ethical behavior in the marketing environment.…”