Social power, product conspicuousness, and the demand for luxury brand counterfeit products

The aim of this article is twofold: (1) to achieve a better understanding of the psychological determinants of the demand for luxury brand counterfeit products (LBCP) through exploring the effects of social power; (2) to extend power literature by identifying boundary conditions of the relationship between social power and compensatory consumption identified by Rucker and Galinsky (2008, J. Consum. Res., 35, 257-267) and Rucker and Galinsky (2009, J. Exp. Soc. Psychol., 45, 549-555). Findings from three experiments demonstrate that social power holds key insights into understanding consumers' purchase propensity for LBCP; product conspicuousness moderates the effects of social power on purchase propensity for status products; these moderation effects are only observed when the status products are LBCP but not genuine…