5.

4 Limitations of the study Applicable across all academic researches and studies, achieving a representative sample is theoretically ideal but yet a predicament to attain in reality. The results derived from this research could not representatively be generalized to the population of Malaysian consumers on the grounds that the sampling method adopted is non-probability sampling convenience sampling. A replication of this postulation with a more representative sample size to verify if the data yields similar results would confirm the validity of the results. The questionnaire, precisely under the construct of materialism, contained construct items that respondents depicted difficulties in understanding and comprehending. A rational vindication pertaining to this is that the notion materialism is prevalently used in Western regions of the world but is deemed to be uncommon in the Asian regions. There are however, no perfect substitutes for the term materialism as it could potentially result in deviation or loss in intended meaning due to translation. As such, some of the questions under the construct of materialism may be rendered useless or inconsistent with each other given that respondents might have perceived and attributed different self-conceived definition to the questions. Gauging the determinants of respondents willingness to purchase counterfeit fashion products could have been conducted with more variables to derive at a more comprehensive and detailed study. Albeit past studies for instance Ervina & Fandy (2013) has proven that it is possible to probe into such comprehensiveness (i.e : 12 hypotheses), however, given the time constraints such approach is difficult to implement and may be impractical. Thus, the results obtained from this study are deemed to be cross-sectional and may change as time transcends. A longitudinal study would provide better clarification and confirmation pertaining to the results obtained. Withal to that, the results obtained in this study are merely representative of general counterfeit fashion products. Provided that issues of time constraint and budget limitation could be surmounted or overcome, the design of the study may look into more in-depth perspective of fashion counterfeits (such as: deceptive and non-deceptive counterfeits continuums). Despite the depth of research specialization, the arduous efforts required for

such research design, particularly under the context of approaching the right respondents may be impractical for the current limitations. The research on the field of deceptive fashion counterfeits should be warranted further attention compounding the fact that it is now allegedly emerging worldwide (Irene, 2007).