Luxury goods and their counterfeits in Sub-Saharan Africa: a conceptual model of counterfeit luxury purchase intentions and empirical test
Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics
ISSN: 1355-5855
Article publication date: 22 September 2021
Issue publication date: 6 June 2022
Abstract
Purpose
Heeding the call for insights into the Sub-Saharan African international marketing context, this study aims to empirically examine consumers' desires and motivations for buying counterfeit luxury goods. It examines influences on consumers' attitudes and purchase intentions related to counterfeit luxury goods in Rwanda, one of Sub-Saharan Africa's fastest-growing economies and growing luxury markets, developing and testing a model examining the effect of social context on personal attributes, providing evidence on economic and social-status factors as drivers for counterfeiting.
Design/methodology/approach
The data were collected using an online survey administered in Rwanda to consumers who had previously purchased luxury goods and counterfeits. A total of 312 valid responses were analyzed using structural equation modeling.
Findings
This study found that normative and informational influences had a positive effect on Rwandan consumers' attitude toward purchasing counterfeit luxury products, with attitude influencing purchase intentions directly and indirectly, through mediating variable desire for status or through value consciousness and desire for status.
Originality/value
The study contributes to academic research − one of the first empirical studies to examine consumers' desires and motivations for buying counterfeit luxury goods in Sub-Saharan Africa, providing insights that benefit scholars and practitioners seeking to better understand a market where more than half of the world's fastest economies are located.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by a grant from Kyung Hee University in 2020 KHU-20201224.
Citation
Sengabira Ndereyimana, C., Lau, A.K.W., Lascu, D.-N. and Manrai, A.K. (2022), "Luxury goods and their counterfeits in Sub-Saharan Africa: a conceptual model of counterfeit luxury purchase intentions and empirical test", Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, Vol. 34 No. 6, pp. 1222-1244. https://doi.org/10.1108/APJML-03-2021-0184
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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