The influence of consumers' lawfulness attitude and morality towards willingness to purchase counterfeit fashion products

The seriousness and global magnanimity of counterfeit has been a consistent thief of companies’ intellectual property rights, robbing countries of income and societies of their jobs. Countless efforts have been taken by the World Customs Organization (WCO), Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and locally by the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (KPDNHEP) to combat the growth of counterfeiting. However, the growth of this illicit trade is still proudly blossoming despite all the efforts to control it. The focus of this study would be on fashion brands, which proudly sits at the top of counterfeited products ranking worldwide. The purpose of this research was to investigate the significance of the relationship between moral intensity, recognition of moral issue, moral judgment and willingness of consumers to purchase counterfeit fashion products. This research also evaluated the moderating effects of lawfulness attitude as an individual moderator between moral judgment and predicting the outcome variable. This study was underpinned by Jones 1991 Issue-Contingent Model to gauge the influence of lawfulness attitude and morality particularly on Generation-Y consumers. This study involved 266 respondents from Penang. Out of the six hypotheses tested, two were supported while the other four were not supported. The analysis revealed a positive relationship between recognition of moral issue and moral judgment towards respondents' willingness to purchase counterfeit fashion products. On the other hand, lawfulness attitude did not moderate the relationship between moral judgment and willingness to purchase. This study also highlighted implications of the study, limitations as well as recommendations for future research

The design and evaluation of an anonymous, two-way, ethics management reporting system

Despite a recognized need for whistleblowing systems in academic research, little to no attention has been given to the necessary requirements for and specific design of effective whistleblowing systems. In order to increase the rate of reporting, it is critical for reporting systems to be designed with the intent to reduce employee fears and inhibitions by reducing the potential for retaliation. Therefore, the goal of this three-essay dissertation was to enhance a firm\u27s ability to solicit and investigate concerns by proposing and evaluating a system aimed at fostering anonymous, two-way communication between employees and investigators of wrongdoing. In essay one, design science (Hevner et al., 2004; March & Smith, 1995; Walls, Widmeyer, & El Savvy, 1992, 2004) was employed in order to theorize and justify the design of an anonymous reporting system artifact. In doing so, existing reporting systems were examined and modern technologies were incorporated into a proposed design of an anonymous, two-way ethics management reporting system. Essay two reviewed existing theories in the extant whistleblowing literature and relied upon communication research, both inter-personal and computer-mediated, to address the limitations of prior theory regarding reduced perceptions of credibility for anonymous whistleblowers. The experiment tasked subjects with evaluating simulated two-way communication between an investigator and an employee attempting to blow the whistle on financial wrongdoing. The results provide strong evidence that two-way communication can reduce the credibility gap between perceptions of anonymous and identified whistleblowers. Lastly, essay three assessed the system design proposed in essay one from the perspective of the organizational insider. The proposed system was also compared to other channels available to report wrongdoing, such as the use of open door policies and telephone hotlines. Two simultaneous online experiments tested user perceptions of anonymity protections provided by each channel, as well as the specific whistlebloweroriented design features proposed in the design. This essay provides evidence that online reporting systems are perceived to provide significantly higher anonymity protections than phone hotlines and open door policies, while select features of the proposed system impact user perceptions of anonymity