Shame or pride? : The moderating role of self-construal on moral judgments concerning fashion counterfeits

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the moderating role of individuals’ self-view (interdependent, independent) in the relationship between moral emotions and moral judgments made concerning the purchase of fashion counterfeits. Design/methodology/approach – Based on reviewing the literature on moral decision making, moral emotion and self-construal, we test the hypotheses by two experimental studies. Findings – The results of two studies demonstrated that independents were more likely to judge counterfeits as morally wrong when pride rather than shame was associated with counterfeits or was evoked through an anti-counterfeit campaign. Interdependents were more likely to judge counterfeits as morally wrong when shame rather than pride was evoked through an anti-counterfeit campaign. Research limitations/implications – Results can inform marketing communication campaigns designed to prevent the proliferation of counterfeits in the fashion industry. Originality/value – The contribution of this research is the expansion of prior work on consumers’ purchase of counterfeit goods by the discovery of the causal direction of individuals’ differences in self-view and its impact on moral judgment.