• Korea Trade Review
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.1-14
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• 2016

Consumers have been increasing their interests in firms' ethicality as well as in the features of the firms' products when they decide to purchase a certain product. Recently, fair trade is considered to be a type of ethical marketing in the business-to-consumer market. In this regard, the effects of fair trade-based marketing on firm performance have become the center of academic and managerial concerns. Despite this importance, few studies have investigated whether fair-trade is a source of competitive advantage or just a cost of doing business. The present research attempts to provide evidence of how fair trade-based marketing influences competitive advantage. Two experimental studies were conducted to explore consumers' purchase intention, which can be a proxy of competitive advantage, in a foreign product-consumption context. Drawing on the stakeholder theory, the first study was performed to examine the effects of fair trade marketing on consumers' purchase intention through a within-subjects design. In addition, building on the signal theory, the second study was executed to test the effects of a fair trade mark on consumers' purchase intention. The findings of the current research reveal that consumers prefer fair trade-based products to others and that when it comes to fair trade-certified products, consumers are more likely to purchase products with that certification than otherwise, even when those products are sold at higher costs than rival products. Interestingly, the results of this research present that there is a significant difference of consumers' purchase intention of a fair trade-based product between two different marketers. This implies that fair trade-based products should be differentially distributed and targeted at a certain type of consumers.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.509-522
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of adolescent consumers' attitudes toward money and conspicuous consumption on unethical consumption behavior in commercial transactions. The main survey was conducted targeting 290 middle and high school students. As a result of this research, first in the case of adolescent's attitudes toward money, the symbol for happiness and success was 3.11 and the means of control was 1.77 respectively. The level of conspicuous consumption behavior was 2.75 and the level of unethical consumption behavior scored as passive unethical consumption behavior was 1.38 while the active unethical consumption behavior was 2.10. Second, in the case of the attitude toward money as a means of control, it differentiated according to the level of living and the amount of allowance. Conspicuous consumption behavior differentiated according to the amount of allowance and the father's education. Active unethical consumption behavior showed a difference according to the amount of allowance and the father's education. Multiple linear regression analysis conducted to identify relative effects of the variables that affect unethical consumption behavior, in case of passive unethical consumption behavior, showed that conspicuous consumption(${\beta}$=.23, p<.01) and attitudes toward money as a means of control(${\beta}$=.29, p<.001) with an explanatory power of 18%. In the case of active unethical consumption behavior, showed that sex(${\beta}$=.16, p<.05), father's education(${\beta}$=-.15, p<.05), attitudes toward money as means of control(${\beta}$=.18, p<.5) and conspicuous consumption(${\beta}$=.36, p<.001) with an explanatory power of 26%.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.27-48
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• 2011

The Chinese counterfeits has begun to gain great attention recently because of the drastic increase in its volume. The consumption of counterfeit harms to manufacturer who spend millions of dollars to create and develop new product. The counterfeits in Chinese can cause international dispute and lower national reputation. The purpose of this study were to examine if the buyers of counterfeits tend to care more about interpersonal relationship than non-buyers among Chinese. Data were gathered by surveying Chinese consumer living in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou metropolitan area using convenient sampling, and 480 questionnaires were used in the statistical analysis. In analyzing data, descriptive statistics, factor analysis, structural equation modeling with AMOS were conducted. The results of this study were follows, first, attitude toward counterfeits was classified into three factors such as interpersonal relationship, perception, and involvement. It is general belief that attitudes toward counterfeits were correlated with on brand attachment, however this study show that the buyers of counterfeits tended to purchase counterfeit goods as more alternatives of genuine(original) product than non-buyers. Perhaps, the buyers of counterfeits tended to have lower consumer ethics than non-buyers because they value counterfeit high. It is generally accepted that both a producer and a buyer violate the laws, but they are rather generous for buyer. The results of this study suggest consumers' attitude towards counterfeit need to be changed, following consumer education and strict law enforcement. Based on these results, global brand marketing strategies for luxury goods were suggested.