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The market for counterfeit goods worldwide has continued to grow significantly over the years, attracting the curiosity of researchers in the marketing field. This study aimed to analyse the influence of price-quality inference and attitudes towards economic rewards of purchasing counterfeit products on the intentions to purchase non-deceptive counterfeit products.

The research adopted a quantitative methodology and utilised the cross-sectional survey method to collect data from a sample of 381 respondents comprising university students. The data was then analysed using the computer software Smart PLS 4.

The results established that the respondents’ price-quality inference of counterfeit products was positively associated with the attitudes towards economic rewards of purchasing counterfeit products and intention to purchase counterfeit products. Furthermore, the study revealed that attitudes towards economic rewards of purchasing counterfeit products partially mediated the influence of price-quality inference on customer intention to acquire non-deceptive counterfeit goods. A multigroup analysis of the proposed relationship did not find any statistically significant differences in the pattern of results concerning the gender groups.

The significance of the study findings is hampered by the singular focus on university students as a reference point for young people’s perceptions of counterfeit goods in South Africa. The study, however, presents verifiable evidence that marketers and brand managers of genuine products may utilise to develop intervention measures to sway young African consumers away from counterfeits and towards genuine brands.

This is one of the few studies in the literature that addresses young adults’ deliberate purchasing of non-deceptive counterfeits in South Africa, an important consumer market in Africa.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent of use of the price‐quality cue in financial services, and to uncover some of its drivers. The drives studied are: advertising exposure, product complexity, and consumer price knowledge. The use of price as an indicator of quality has been a well‐documented phenomenon in consumer goods markets. However, the existence of this relationship has not been tested in services, and in particular in financial services markets.

A consumer survey of over 200 individuals contacted through intercept interviews was conducted. The use of the price‐quality cue and its drivers were measured using multi‐item scales, for six financial services categories: checking accounts, financial advisory services, automobile insurance, home insurance, life insurance, and tax accounting.

Significant variations in the use of price as an indicator of quality across financial services categories are identified. Furthermore, it is found that both consumer price knowledge and advertising exposure increase the use of the price‐quality cue, while product complexity was found to have no significant impact on price‐quality cue utilization for financial services.

Future research could expand the array of variables which drive consumers' use of the price‐quality cue. In addition, a wider range of financial services categories could be studied.

Knowing the extent by which consumers depend on the price‐quality cue in their decisions is critical to optimal positioning of a financial brand. This paper provides specific managerial recommendations on how to approach the pricing and marketing of each of the six financial services categories studied. In addition public policymakers may find the findings of interest due to quality perception biases that may result from financial services providers' pricing tactics

While previous research studies in price‐quality cue utilization have primarily focused on manufactured goods, this paper is the only study that has examined the dynamics of price‐quality cue utilization by consumers in financial services. This is an important inquiry due to the large volume of consumer expenditures in financial services categories, and the significant impact that these categories have on the financial stability and well‐being of the public.

This study examines the effect of five price perception dimensions (price consciousness, price mavenism, sale proneness, price-quality schema, and prestige sensitivity) on consumer's perceived value (acquisition value, and transaction value), and how perceived value affects consumers' behavioral intentions (purchase intentions, and intentions to recommend). It also examines the moderation role of face consciousness.

A quantitative research methodology using online survey technique is employed to collect cross-cultural data from respondents from China (n = 371) and Egypt (n = 384). Structural equation model (SEM) via SmartPLS v.3.2.9 is conducted to analyze data.

The results show that consumers’ behavioral intentions toward suboptimal fresh produce are positively affected by both dimensions of perceived value. As well as, perceived value is influenced by different price perception dimensions. Moreover, face consciousness partially moderates the relationship between perceived value and behavioral intentions.

To best of the authors’ knowledge, it is the first study to associate price perception dimensions with purchase value dimensions in the context of suboptimal products. It also contributes to utility and purchase value theory by employing the distinct measures of both perceived acquisition value and transaction value, to enable us to obtain a better understanding of the whole picture of perceived value. In addition, it contributes to regulatory focus theory through the inclusion of face consciousness in the purchase value model. Moreover, up to the researchers' knowledge, prior investigation on these issues in Egypt and China as a cross-cultural research does not exist.

This chapter summarizes the behavioral pricing research findings of price and how buyers respond to price. This includes the relationship between price and perceived value and the decision heuristics that help us understand how price influences perceptions of value and eventual product choice. Buyers also use price as an indicator of product quality, and customers’ perceptions of quality, benefits, and value affect how they will respond to a purchase situation. In addition, buyers’ perceptions of the sacrifice affect the purchase decision, that is the degree that consumers reflect on the amount that they would “give up” by paying the monetary price for a product may vary according to a variety of situations and conditions, such as type of product or service, or the perceived unfairness of the price, or if the buyer perceives a brand is superior to competing brands. The chapter also discusses how buyers trade off or compare the perceived gains arising from price-quality judgments versus the perceived sacrifice required to acquire the product or service, including whether buyers integrate price and other attribute information following a nonlinear (proportional) or linear (subtractive) process. It also summarizes research on price as a multidimensional attribute, considered with additional dimensions such as warranty coverage, and warrantor reputation. Finally, the chapter examines perceived product value as being decomposed into its (1) perceived acquisition value (the expected benefit to be gained from acquiring the product less the net displeasure of paying for it) and (2) perceived transaction value (the perceived merits or fairness of the offer or deal).

This paper aims to move beyond previous investigations juxtaposing the performance of global versus domestic brands, where domestic is referred to as “localness” in the literature, conceptualizing and developing two measures of “within-country brand or product localness.” In doing so, it uses objective localness measures, rather than consumer perceptions of brand localness, as have been primarily used previously. Then, by leveraging established theory on brand authenticity and corollary literatures on brand identity and country-of-origin effects, this research develops and empirically tests key hypotheses about how these within-country, more geographically local products or brands (referred to as simply “localness” hereafter, for brevity), influence sales outcomes through increasing perceptions of brand and product authenticity.

Two empirical studies using different archival data sets are conducted to test the hypotheses. Study 1 focuses on new product sales from 2002 to 2011 for 31 categories of consumer packaged goods US product launches initiated in 2002–2005, whereas Study 2 investigates online consumer review and retail sales data in the US craft beer industry from 2001 to 2011. Localness is operationalized as two different objective measures: in Study 1, local distribution is measured, and in Study 2, firm headquarters denotes the geographic bounds of localness. These two measures are motivated by prior consumer perceptual studies of Locavores (consumers who strongly prefer local products), which identify that local systems of production and/or distribution are the key signals of localness. Using two measures allows the localness construct to be tested for the potential firm-side boundaries of its scope and provides two empirical measures that future researchers can leverage.

Brand (or product) localness gives performance advantages over national brands in the form of increased sales across both studies. The second study, focused on craft beer, dives more deeply into the theoretical mechanism (localness operates through increased perceptions of brand authenticity) and shows that while brand authenticity directly translates into higher sales, as anticipated, localness fully mediates this relationship. When coupled with supporting marketing tactics (high price and/or product variety), the link between localness and brand authenticity grows stronger. Local brands with low prices and/or limited product variety are deemed inauthentic by consumers, so it is important for brand managers to use marketing tactics that reinforce brand authenticity to support localness as a strategy.

Future research could extend this inquiry in a number of ways. These include combining both empirical measures of localness into a single empirical inquiry, investigating additional product categories and further integrating aspects of strategy such as market positioning and innovation strategy. Newer data could also reveal how these phenomena are continuing to evolve.

Based on this study, managers can benefit by leveraging localness as a key brand or product attribute to achieve a sales advantage, but they must do so by using marketing tactics consistent with an authentic brand positioning. Efforts to expand a brand’s geographic reach over time should likely be conducted very locally at first, before extending to regional markets and then to a global footprint. It is also posited that retail store managers can benefit from allocating some shelf space to local brand and product offerings.

This paper conceptualizes and measures localness in new ways compared to the previous literatures. It develops objective measures of within-country localness instead of using consumer perceptions of localness and/or considering domestic brands as being “local” compared to global brands; builds key linkages between concepts of localness, authenticity and sales performance; and uncovers when and how within-country localness is a key brand or product attribute associated with increased sales success.

This article aims to close some research gaps by differentiating between brand types and price tiers. Many consumers perceive high prices as signals of high quality, yet researchers tend to find only low average correlations between price and objective quality. Previous studies do not account for market shares and paid prices though.

A German consumer panel with more than 30,000 households reveals market shares and paid prices. Combining these data with product test ratings, the authors evaluate price-quality relationships with Spearman’s rank correlation coefficients and distinguish food from non-food products, national brands and private labels and three price tiers.

High price-quality correlations for national brands and non-food private labels indicate that a higher price signals greater product quality. For food private labels, negative correlation coefficients inhibit the use of price as a quality indicator. The price-quality relationship for food private labels implies strong competition among brand owners, based on the price and quality of their products.

This article investigates price-quality correlations by accounting for paid prices and product market shares; it also reveals differences across food and non-food products, national brands and private labels and different price tiers against the background of competition strategies. By addressing when consumers use price as a quality indicator, it outlines important managerial implications for manufacturers, retailers and consumers.

This paper presents some rather complicated empirical work employing econometric modelling to demonstrate the validity of a quite simple proposition: the use of a product's price as an indicator of quality is only justified when the market is free of trade barriers and other imperfections. It demonstrates that individuals are well aware of this fact, making use of price as a quality indicator only where trade barriers have not distorted prices. Thus, it is not possible to make very strong generalisations about the existence of a universal price‐quality relationship. The managerial implications of the findings are briefly discussed.

This study aims to verify the antecedents influencing mobile gamers’ intentions to purchase mobile phones. To this end, the constructs price–quality relationship, price sensitivity, perceived quality, identification with the group of gamers and referrals from other gamers were identified in the literature.

Data were collected through an online questionnaire with 335 consumers. The model was tested using partial least squares.

It was verified that the price–quality relationship directly influences mobile gamers' intentions to purchase mobile phones. Also, it was observed that price sensitivity of mobile gamers directly influences the price–quality relationship and indirectly influences the intention to purchase mobile phones to play games. It was further verified that this price sensitivity is directly influenced by the perceived quality of mobile gaming devices. Finally, it was observed that referrals from other gamers directly influences the perceived quality and onès identification with the group of gamers.

This study concluded that developing strategies focused on prices of mobile phones gamers use to play games tends to influence mobile gamers' purchase intentions. This paper extends the study of mobile device purchase behavior, uniting constructs studied separately and proposing connections not yet tested, assisting in the theoretical understanding of the factors that contribute to the intention to purchase mobile devices.

This study is theoretically justified for four reasons: it focused on a specific group of consumers, mobile gamers, which is a constantly growing audience; it brought an innovative model, testing the influence of the perceived quality of mobile gaming devices on the price sensitivity of mobile gamers; there are spaces for new research on mobile device purchase intention; and it may assist in the theoretical understanding of the factors contributing to mobile device purchase intention.

Describes an effort to explore the relationship between objective measures of product quality and country of origin. Consumers Union ratings of automobile maintenance performance are used as objective quality measures. Effects were examined when considering three different functions: location of headquarters, origin of parts and place of assembly. Price‐quality relationships were estimated and compared. Finally, a subjective measure of automobiles (owner satisfaction) was compared with the objective measure, across all cases and by country of origin. Results revealed objective quality comparisons differed. Both the price‐objective quality relationships and differences in objective versus subjective quality ratings varied between foreign and US vehicles. Examining the objective quality – country of origin relationship via different country of origin measures offers marketers insight in understanding the basis for apparent preferences found in some perceptual studies.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an empirical investigation of the idea that imperfectly informed consumers use simple signals to identify the characteristics of wine, for example, the geographical denomination. The reputation of a denomination will thus be an important guide for consumers when assessing individual wines.

The price–quality relationship is studied in a fairly homogenous geographical area where a large number of wine types is present. This is done by using a simple ordinary least squares (OLS) analysis on a database of more than 2,000 different red wines produced in a period of just four years in only one Italian region.

The results show that some denominations have a lower average quality score and that price differentials between denominations are linked to differences in average quality, although consumers tend to exaggerate the quality gap between prestigious denominations and others.

A producer in a prestigious denomination benefits from a substantial mark-up relative to an equally good producer from another denomination. Furthermore, denomination neutral wines have a stronger price–quality relationship than denomination specific wines.

Consumers should not be misled by what is on the bottle, but should rather consult wine guides to become better informed before purchasing.

The fact that quality and sensory characteristics often play a minor role in determining the price of a commodity is not immediately compatible with the postulate that consumers are well informed.

Unlike previous work, this paper investigates a limited area (Tuscany) and only red wines, thus making it possible implicitly to control for many other factors which might otherwise confound the price–quality relationship.