Toward a profile of student software piraters

Efforts to counter software piracy are an increasing focus of software publishers. This study attempts to develop a profile of those who illegally copy software by looking at undergraduate and graduate students and the extent to which they pirate software. The data indicate factors that can be used to profile the software pirater. In particular, males were found to pirate software more frequently than females and older students more than younger students, based on self-reporting. Ronald R. Sims is the Floyd Dewey Gottwald Professor of Business Administration, The College of William and Mary. He is the author or coauthor of more than sixty articles and eleven books. His two most recent books are: Ethics and Organizational Decision Making: A Call for Renewal and Corporate Misconduct: The Legal, Societal and Management Issues.Hsing Kenneth Cheng is Assistant Professor of Information Technology at the Graduate School of Business Administration, The College of William and Mary. His research interests include information systems economics, managing the risks of computer system breakdowns, and analyzing the impacts and policy implications of information technology on society.