Anti-Counterfeiting Signal: Does Language Intensity Affect Consumers’ Self-Disidentification from Counterfeits? How and When Does It Work?

Abstract

In everyday life we collect information from different signals about objects or people of which we do not know much. Such signals can be a dating profile on Tinder or a product’s advertisement on YouTube. Since its inception in 1972, signaling theory has been widely applied in various fields of business. However, this theory is not free from criticism. One such recent criticism is the role of language in signals as the original signaling theory remained silent about it. In addition, researchers criticized signaling theory stating it did not explain the signal processing mechanism and whether influence of signal varies depending on signal receiver’s psychological characteristics. These unexplored questions create a void in our existing knowledge, which requires scholarly attention.
Therefore, to investigate these issues, the current research looks through it in the context of non-deceptive anti-counterfeiting communication in the United Kingdom. Practitioners and researchers are keen to find out what could make anti-counterfeiting communication effective to reduce the demand of counterfeits. Existing research on this area is still sparse. To explore these research issues, this study takes a quantitative research approach and conducts two online experiments by manipulating the language intensity level of real-life anti-counterfeiting advertisements. The findings of current research show that level of language intensity in anti-counterfeiting signal influences signal’s effectiveness. Furthermore, this research finds out such effect varies depending on signal receivers’ moral mindset (fixed versus growth). Moreover, this research identifies that signal receivers’ moral belief and their feelings of moral disgust play roles in processing signals. This research outcomes contribute to broaden up our understanding of signaling theory and can also help practitioners to design a more effective anti-counterfeiting communication material. This research creates opportunities for future research in understanding influence of other language variables and signal receivers’ different psychological characteristics on signaling effects.

Date of Award	19 Dec 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Northumbria University
Supervisor	Xuemei Bian (Supervisor), Padmali Rodrigo (Supervisor) & Ran Liu (Supervisor)