?To Pirate or Not to Pirate?: A Comparative Study of the Ethical Versus Other Influences on the Consumer?s Software Acquisition-Mode Decision

Abstract

Consumers of software often face an acquisition-mode decision, namely whether to purchase or pirate that software. In terms of consumer welfare, consumers who pirate software may stand in opposition to those who purchase it. Marketers also face a decision whether to attempt to thwart that piracy or to ignore, if not encourage it as an aid to their software's diffusion, and policymakers face the decision whether to adopt inter-ventionist policies, which are government-centric, or laissez faire policies, which are marketer-centric. Here in order to assess the decision-making of all three of these stakeholders, we focus on the consumer's point-of-view as central and examine it by considering on a comparative basis the ethical dimension versus other dimensions, including economic, legal, and other salient consumer behavior considerations. Based on a survey of 689 software consumers conducted over the Internet, the results indicate that ethics as a factor is embedded in a multidimensional set of determinant factors influencing software piracy, including attitudes, legal aspects, social support, perceptions of economic loss and age. Policy and research implications, based on these findings, are provided.

Predicting Accounting Students’ Intentions to Engage in Software and Music Piracy

“…Prior research have found support for moral obligation as an influential variable affecting the intention to pirate or not pirate in information technology contexts (Leonard and Cronan, 2001;Higgins et al, 2005). Therefore, we argue that persons with high morals and ethical standards may abstain from engaging in software and music piracy (Gupta et al, 2004). Thus, our fourth set of hypotheses is as follows:…”

“…the software and music industries). We define software piracy as unauthorized or illegal downloading or copying of computer programs; while music piracy entails the copying and/or distribution of a piece of music without the copyright holder's consent (Swinyard et al, 1990;Glass and Wood, 1996;Sims et al 1996;Gupta et al, 2004). 2 The computer has become an integral part of our daily routine and the role of this technology in facilitating the proliferation of software and music piracy can not be overstated.…”

Identifying entrepreneurs through risk taking behaviour: illegal downloading

“…It would seem that many students see 'softlifting' as an acceptable behaviour (Cohen and Cornwall 1989;Shim and Taylor 1993;Solomon and O'Brian 1990) largely due to the organisations concerned being perceived as very wealthy (Gupta et al 2004), and because the perpetrator can remain anonymous (Hinduja 2008). Students are also more likely to partake in this behaviour because they normally have the necessary computing skills and have good access to computers and the internet (Siegfried and Ashley 2006).…”

Tomada de decisão de compra de DVDs de filmes piratas: estudo com aplicação de regressão logística

“…A pirataria é descrita como o ato de fazer ou distribuir cópias de produtos protegidos pelos direitos autorais e sem a autorização do autor, produtor e coautor, com exceção de uma cópia para o uso do próprio adquirente do produto legal (Gupta et al, 2004).…”