The impact of perceived design similarity and consumers' IPR morality on their expected utility of legally copied products
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Design appropriation in the fashion industry often breaches original creators' intellectual property rights (IPRs). Due to inadequate legal protection under current U.S. IPR law, many copiers can legally produce and sell similar designs, known as legally copied products (LCPs). Despite being legally sold, consumers' perceptions of LCPs vary based on their IPR morality. Some consumers may prioritize the design similarities between LCPs and original designs when evaluating the perceived value of LCPs. Therefore, this study aimed to explore how consumers perceive the utility of LCPs and how much they are willing to purchase LCPs through the lens of decision theory in the philosophy literature, utilizing the expected utility concept. This study collected 314 U.S. female consumers who were over 18 and conducted partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The study findings showed that the participants' IPR morality could weaken the positive relationship between the perceived social value and low-end LCP purchase intention. The study also found that when the participants perceived design similarities at more than a moderate level, the relationship between the perceived quality and purchase intention was positively amplified. These results have several theoretical and managerial implications. Most important to the existing literature and fashion industry, this study showed that consumers' IPR morality could shape or reshape their low-end LCP purchasing decision-making mechanisms by lowering the expected utility of LCPs.
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Ph. D.