Guardianship Through Information-Sharing: An Examination of Product Counterfeiting

• In Event: Crime and Place: Guardianship in Cyberspace

Abstract

Counterfeit products are manufactured for a variety of brands, and sometimes these counterfeit items are difficult to distinguish from the legitimate product. Brand-conscious customers sometimes share information on forums about how to distinguish a counterfeit from a legitimate product. This study uses a qualitative approach (content analysis) to examine how consumers engage in guardianship activities based on a routine activities theory framework (Cohen and Felson, 1979). The forums were analyzed to see how customers might act as guardians by sharing information with the each other about tell-tale signs of a fake product in an effort to prevent others from purchasing counterfeits.

Authors

• Ksenia Petlakh, Michigan State University

• Meghan Elizabeth Hollis, Michigan State University