Product counterfeiting is an interdisciplinary phenomenon that has relatively recently emerged as a field of interest for criminologists. Consequently, a clear understanding of product counterfeiting from a criminological perspective is lacking, as the application of criminological theory to this crime type as well as any guidance for the analyses of the phenomenon is limited at this time (Heinonen, Holt & Wilson, 2012).The examination of the purchase of counterfeit goods from a criminological perspective is appropriate and opportune not only due to its role as an ‘enabler’ of counterfeit trade (without demand there would be no or severely limited trade of counterfeit goods), but also due to the fact that, at least in some countries , the acquiring of fake goods has moved in the realm of criminalized activities. Furthermore, the lack of application of criminological theory to the phenomenon is a considerable gap in the literature. The proposed dissertation aims to address this gap by testing core elements of two competing theoretical explanations: Akers’ Social Learning Theory (SLT) and Gottfriedson and Hirschi’s Low Self-Control Theory (LSC). The objective of the study is to test the principal propositions of both with respect to their ability of providing adequate explanations for the volitional purchase of non-deceptive counterfeit goods in physical market environments, and compare their ability of predicting levels of counterfeit purchase in a Romanian student population. In addition, the study tests the ability of the two theories to provide explanations of deviant behaviors outside of the socio-economic and political context in (and for) which they have been developed.The dissertation makes use of original data gathered via a cross-sectional survey design applied college students enrolled at Babeș-Bolyai University (Cluj-Napoca), the largest urban settlement (and former capital) of one of the three major geographic, historical and cultural regions (Transylvania) of Romania. The theoretical and policy implications of the findings are also discussed.
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