Consumer behavior toward counterfeiting: Exploring consumer's purchase intention after design piracy - Case Marimekko

This thesis is based on the Finnish design company Marimekko, and its case about plagiarism accusations, which began on May 2013. The study is cross-sectional. Based on a careful literature examination, the research model was constructed. The role of consumer ?s attitude toward counterfeits, brand trust and affective identification, and their influence on future purchase is examined. The aim of this study is to provide a comprehensive understanding of the purchase intention of Marimekko products after the plagiarism accusations. The research is quantitative in nature. Research data was collected by using Webrobol survey software. During a two weeks period (Fall 2014) 129 respondents answered our online questionnaire. The questionnaire and hypotheses were based on past studies yet we fitted them to the case context of Marimekko. SPSS version 22.0-software was used to analyze data from the questionnaire. Data analysis was conducted in two parts. In the first part, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was set to investigate the scale items, and reduce and summarize the data. The reliability and validity of the scale items was also conducted. In the second part, regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses. The findings reveal that trust and affective identification affects the purchase intention positively, and the consumer intent to buy Marimekko products in the future. After the plagiarism accusations toward the company, consumers of Marimekko still trust the company and they identify themselves positively with the company and its products. In addition, consumers perceived corporate ability and perceived corporate social responsibility affects positively on trust and affective identification. There are several limitations in this study. For example, even though the number of respondents was suitable for factor analysis, a larger number of respondents could give more statistically significant results. This thesis could benefit from being tested in a longitudinal research. As so, it would be worthwhile to conduct a cross-cultural study in future research