The effect of life values and materialism on buying counterfeit products

Buying counterfeit products has become a worldwide economical and social problem. This survey examined attitudes, beliefs and personality traits that account for the variability in people's willingness to buy counterfeit products. The participants were 102 (44 males and 58 females). The questionnaire consisted of the Richins materialism scale, the Schwartz value inventory, questions about beliefs about counterfeit products and producers, as well as participant willingness to actually buy different counterfeit products. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that specific beliefs about counterfeit purchasing added considerably to the explanation already provided by background demographic information (ΔR2 = 0.11, p < 0.05). The materialism scale, also contributed some variance (ΔR2 = 0.03, p < 0.05), while Schwartz's value inventory did not (ΔR2 = 0.001, p > 0.05). The results are discussed in terms of this neglected area of research.