Design piracy: An interdisciplinary investigation into competitive industrial behavior

Abstract

In consumptive environments where laws provide little recourse against strategic mimicry related to trademarks of design leaders, such as apparel and accessories, design piracy resulting in highly similar copies is controversial. This research investigates the effects of the practice of design leader imitation via a comprehensive framework that accounts for the consumptive environment of design piracy as well as behavioral audience response. Phase 1 reveals that the existence of a design pirate with a highly similar trademark to the leader reinforces the equity of the leader. Phase 2 investigates whether differences across audience members moderate the effects of the existence of the design pirate, finding that while the presence of the mimicked leaders does not interact with the existence of design pirates, audience integrity moderates these effects. Future research inquiring into the effects of design piracy between both smaller organizations as well as individuals within organizational systems is suggested. © 2023 Elsevier Inc.