Factors that Influence the Intention to Pirate Software and Media

This study focuses on one of the newer forms of software piracy, known as digital piracy, and uses the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) as a framework to attempt to determine factors that influence digital piracy (the illegal copying/downloading of copyrighted software and media files). This study examines factors, which could determine an individual’s intention to pirate digital material (software, media, etc.). Past piracy behavior and moral obligation, in addition to the prevailing theories of behavior (Theory of Planned Behavior), were studied to determine the influence on digital piracy intention. Based on the results of this study, planned behavioral factors in addition to past piracy behavior and moral obligation were found to influence an individual’s intention to pirate digital material. Attitude, past piracy behavior, perceived behavior control, and moral obligation explained 71 percent of the intention to pirate variance. Using these results, a better understanding of why individuals pirate is presented and can be used to help combat digital piracy. Timothy Paul Cronan is Professor and M. D. Matthews Chair in Information Systems at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. Dr. Cronan received the D. B. A. from Louisiana Tech University and is an active member of the Decision Sciences Institute and The Association for Computing Machinery. He has served as Regional Vice President and on the Board of Directors of the Decision Sciences Institute and as President of the Southwest Region of the Institute. In addition, he has served as Associate Editor for MIS Quarterly. His research interests include information systems ethical behavior, piracy and privacy, work groups, change management, data warehouse development, performance analysis and effectiveness, and end-user computing Publications have appeared in MIS Quarterly, Decision Sciences, Journal of Business Ethics, Information and Management, OMEGA The International Journal of Management Science, The Journal of Management Information Systems, Communications of the ACM, Journal of Organizational and End User Computing, Database, Journal of Research on Computing in Education, Journal of Financial Research, as well as in other journals and proceedings of various Conferences. Sulaiman Al-Rafee received his Ph.D. in Information Systems from the University of Arkansas 9n the USA in May, 2002. He is Assistant Professor of Information Systems at the Department of Quantitative Methods and Information Systems at the College of Business Administration, Kuwait University. He is the MIS coordinator of the department and has taught a variety of MIS courses within the department. His research interests include: ethics, behavioral psychology, software and digital piracy, user acceptance of information technology, and cross-cultural studies.     

Attitude Toward and Propensity to Engage in Unethical Behavior: Measurement Invariance across Major among University Students

This research examines business and psychology students’ attitude toward unethical behavior (measured at Time 1) and their propensity to engage in unethical behavior (measured at Time 1 and at Time 2, 4 weeks later) using a 15-item Unethical Behavior measure with five Factors: Abuse Resources, Not Whistle Blowing, Theft, Corruption, and Deception. Results suggested that male students had stronger unethical attitudes and had higher propensity to engage in unethical behavior than female students. Attitude at Time 1 predicted Propensity at Time 1 accurately for all five factors (concurrent validity): If students consider it to be unethical, then, they are less likely to engage in that unethical behavior. Attitude at Time 1 predicted only Factor Abuse Resources for Propensity at Time 2. Propensity at Time 1 was significantly related to Propensity at Time 2. Attitude at Time 1, Propensity at Time 1, and Propensity at Time 2 had achieved configural and metric measurement invariance across major (business vs. psychology). Thus, researchers may have confidence in using these measures in future research.Yuh-Jia Chen received his Ph.D. in Measurement, Evaluation, and Statistics at Teachers College, Columbia University (with a M.A. in Organizational Psychology and M.S. in Applied Statistics). His research interests lie in choice and decision making under risk, money attitude, and resource allocation behavior. Currently, he is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Middle Tennessee State University.Thomas Li-Ping Tang (Ph.D., Case Western Reserve University) is a Full Professor of Management in the Department of Management and Marketing, Jennings A. Jones College of Business at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU), Murfreesboro, Tennessee, 37132. He has taught Industrial and Organizational Psychology at National Taiwan University and at MTSU. His primary research interests are in work motivation, compensation, money attitudes, the Love of Money, unethical behavior, pay satisfaction, turnover, stress, and cross-cultural issues. He has published more than 100 journal articles (e.g., Journal of Applied Psychology, Personnel Psychology, Human Relations, Journal of Management, Management Research, Journal of Organizational Behavior, and Journal of Business Ethics) and presented more than 180 papers in professional conferences and invited seminars around the world. He is (was) a member of the review board for 5 journals and serves as a reviewer for 26 journals around the world. He was the winner of two Outstanding Research Awards (1991, 1999) and Distinguished International Service Award (1999) at Middle Tennessee State University. He also received the Best Reviewer Award from the International Management Division of the Academy of Management in Seattle, WA (2003).     

The Effects of Attitudinal and Demographic Factors on Intention to Buy Pirated CDs: The Case of Chinese Consumers

This study examines the impact of attitude toward piracy on intention to buy pirated CDs using Chinese samples. Attitude toward piracy is measured by a multi-item scale that has been shown to have a consistent factor structure with four distinct components, namely, social cost of piracy, anti-big business attitude, social benefit of dissemination, and ethical belief. Our findings reveal that social benefit of dissemination and anti-big business attitude have a positive relationship with intention to buy pirated CDs while social cost of piracy and ethical belief have a negative relationship. Among these components, ethical belief tends to most strongly predict intention to buy pirated CDs. Demographic variables such as gender and age also help explain the respondents' intention to buy pirated CDs. In addition, those respondents with experience of buying pirated CDs would tend to be more likely to buy pirated CDs than those without such experience. The results are discussed with a view to helping copyright businesses to effectively suppress piracy, and directions for future research are suggested.     

Softlifting: Exploring Determinants of Attitude

Softlifting, or the illegal duplication of copyrighted software by individuals for personal use, is a serious and costly problem for software developers and distributors. Understanding the factors that determine attitude toward softlifting is important in order to ascertain what motivates individuals to engage in the behavior. We examine a number of factors, including personal moral obligation (PMO), perceived usefulness, and awareness of the laws and regulations governing software acquisition and use, along with facets of personal self-identity that may play a role in the development of attitudes and therefore intentions regarding this behavior. These factors are examined across multiple settings expected to be pertinent to our survey respondents: home, work and school. Personal moral obligation and perceived usefulness are significant predictors of attitude across all settings. Past behavior is a significant predictor of intention across all settings, and a significant predictor of attitude in the home setting. We find evidence that awareness of the law causes a less favorable evaluation of softlifting in the school setting only, but has little effect in the home and work settings. As in previous studies, attitude is a significant predictor of intent. We do not find indications that one’s personal self-identity influences one’s attitude towards the behavior and the intention to perform it, except in the case of legal identity, where marginally significant effects are found in the work environment. Dr. Tim Goles is an assistant Professor in the Information Systems Department of the University of Texas-San Antonio. He has numerous publications, most of which pertain to information systems. Dr. Bandula Jayatilaka is an Assistant Professor in the School of Mangement in Binghamton University-SUNY. Most of his publications pertain to information systems. Dr. Beena George is an Assistant Professor at the Cameron School of Business, University of St. Thomas, Houston, Most of her pblications pertain to information systems. Dr. Linda Parsons is an Assistant Professor in the Accounting Department at George Mason University. Most of her publications pertain to accounting information systems and nonprofit organizations. Dr. David S. Taylor is an Assitant Professor at Sam Houston State University. Most of his publications pertain to information systems. Rebecca Brune has a strong accounting background; her work is predominantly in the information systems field.     

Investigating the Factors Influencing Digital Movie Piracy

ABSTRACT

This article closes a theoretical gap in the literature by incorporating neutralization theory, mere exposure effect, self-control theory, and the theory of planned behavior to investigate social and personal factors influencing the downloading of pirated digital movies. Research was conducted using convenience sampling in a large university in Western Australia. Data were analyzed using regression models. Habitual conduct, affect, and facilitating conditions have significant influence upon attitudes toward downloading pirated movies; conversely, self-efficacy, moral judgement, and social factors do not. In addition, attitudes toward downloading pirated movies have a significant influence upon the intention to download pirated movies. It was also found that internet usage, internet time spent and internet speed do not moderate the relationship between attitudes and intention to download pirated movies. Managers, marketers and policymakers must collaborate aggressively to combat movie piracy. Marketers and policymakers can start by creating awareness campaigns to invoke the guilt factor and provide another, cheaper alternative on the internet. In addition, the punishment should be harsher and anti-piracy agencies should be more aggressive in catching all illegal downloaders by tracking their IP addresses from the internet provider that they used.     

Shifting Demand: Online Music Piracy,Physical Music Sales,and Digital Music Sales

Traditionally, music has been sold to consumers by recording several individual songs/tracks in physical media such as CDs and cassettes. Sales of such physical music have been declining for the past several years. Many academic studies have attributed the decline of physical music sales to online music piracy, yet some other studies have not found evidence to support a negative relationship between online music piracy and physical music sales. Interestingly and importantly, we have observed that while many of the studies that found the negative relationship between online music piracy and physical music sales used data before 2003, other studies that do not find similar results have used post-2003 data. In fact, there was a significant structural change in the music market in 2003. Legal (iTunes-like) online channels for digital music that allow consumers to buy individual tracks became available during that year. This article complements the existing literature by analyzing the impact of online music piracy and physical music sales in the presence of iTunes-like legal channels for digital music using bivariate Granger testing. Our results show that the availability of legal channels for digital music has weakened the negative effect of online music piracy on physical music sales. Moreover, in the presence of legal channels for music distribution, digital music, not online music piracy, substitutes for physical music.     

Understanding Attitude and Behavior of Canadian Consumers Toward Organic Wine

The main objective of this study is to identify the determinants of organic wine purchase and understand their effect in order to illustrate what influences whether Canadian consumers are willing to buy this special type of wine. The data for this study were collected across Canada by means of an online self-administered consumer questionnaire survey. Our major findings indicate that the attitude toward organic wine is defined mainly by consumers’ health consciousness and is negatively influenced by the wine involvement pleasure experienced with regular wine. Interestingly, Canadians are not forming positive attitudes toward organic wine based on their knowledge of organic production and its offering. The main predictors of organic wine purchase are attitude toward organic wine and wine involvement interest. Unexpectedly, price consciousness was not found to be a good predictor of organic wine purchase.     

Factors Impacting Ethical Behavior in Hospitals

This study examines factors impacting ethical behavior of 203 hospital employees in Midwestern and Northwestern United States. Ethical behavior of peers had the most significant impact on ethical behavior. Ethical behavior of successful managers, professional education in ethics and sex of the respondents also significantly impacted ethical behavior. Nurses were significantly more ethical than other employees. Race of the respondent did not impact ethical behavior. Overclaiming scales indicated that social desirability bias did not significantly impact the results of our study. Implications of this study for researchers and practitioners are discussed.     

The Antecedents of Music Piracy Attitudes and Intentions

Piracy is the greatest threat facing the music industry worldwide today. This study developed and empirically tested a model examining the antecedents of consumer attitude and behavioral intention toward music piracy behavior. Two types of music piracy behavior, unauthorized duplication/download and pirated music product purchasing, were examined. Based on a field survey in Taiwan, the results showed that attributive satisfaction, perceived prosecution risk, magnitude of consequence, and social consensus are very important in influencing customers attitude and behavioral intention toward two types of music piracy behavior. In addition, singer/band idolization can affect the attitude and behavioral intention in the case of pirated music product purchasing. Perceived proximity was found to affect the attitude and behavioral intention in the case of pirated music product purchasing. However, it only influenced behavioral intention in the case of unauthorized duplication/download.Jyh-Shen Chiou (Ph.D. in Marketing, Michigan State), is professor of Marketing, Department of International Trade, College of Commerce, National Chengchi University, Taiwan. His research focuses on consumer behavior and strategic marketing. His work has been published in Information & Management, Journal of Interactive Marketing, Journal of Service Research, International Journal of Advertising, European Journal of Marketing, Psychology & Marketing, Journal of Social Psychology, Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs, etc.Chien-yi Huang, Associate Professor, Department of Infant and Child Care, National Taipei College of Nursing. Sin-hui Lee, Graduate student, Department of International Trade, National Chengchi University.     

Ripped from the Headlines: What can the Popular Press Teach us about Software Piracy?

Software piracy is an instance of unauthorized duplication of information goods where laws and norms are not agreed-upon. This article presents a content analysis of articles from the five highest circulating U.S. newspapers 1989–2004 as evidence of the prevailing social environment surrounding software piracy. The rationales in the news articles are analyzed as evidence of the social and psychological underpinnings of attitudes toward software piracy. An expanded version of Sykes and Matza’s (American Sociological Review 22, 664–670, 1957); Zamoon and Curley (Working paper, Kuwait University, Kuwait, 2007) neutralization framework is applied to analyze the content of the articles. We found that rationales condoning piracy showed a more balanced use of neutralization approaches, and less moral intensity toward the behavior. In contrast, rationales condemning piracy mostly promoted the injury aspect of software piracy, and suggested higher moral intensity. The discrepancies have practical implications as a barrier to the ability to connect the two sides of the debate concerning software piracy.     

Piracy on File-sharing Networks: Strategies for Recording Companies

In this article, we study the impact on piracy of selling music as downloadable files and the strategies that recording companies should adopt to increase profits. We find that total music sales and profits of firm (recording company) are higher, and total piracy (demand on file-sharing networks) is lower when the firm sells a downloadable version of a music track. We also look at the firm's optimal level of digital rights management (DRM) protection. We found that revenue decreases with increased protection. It is therefore optimal for the firm not to employ any DRM protection in the absence of network externality (NE). Listening to music or watching videos protected by DRM is cumbersome to users because they have to download license files and there are restrictions on the number of times the file can be copied and on the type of devices that can play the file. As a result, DRM protection is a disutility to the legal consumer and the firm must charge lower prices with more DRM protection. When NE is high and a nominal search cost is above a certain threshold, then non-zero protection becomes optimal.     

Global Software Piracy: Searching for Further Explanations

This paper identifies that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has a negative effect on software piracy rates in addition to consolidating prior research that economic development and the cultural dimension of individualism also negatively affect piracy rates. Using data for 59 countries from 2000 to 2005, the findings show that economic well-being, individualism and technology development as measured by ICT expenditures explain between 70% and 82% of the variation in software piracy rates during this period. The research results provide important implications for policy makers and business practitioners to help reduce software piracy.

Consumer Behavior in Press Sector: The Influence of Reasons for Reading on the Choice of Digital Channel

ABSTRACT

The development of the Internet in recent years is affecting working of most businesses. One of the sectors most affected is journalism, which is becoming more and more important on the Web. This study analyzes the dual nature of computing mediums from the perspective of demand, contrasting the existence of differentiated reading behaviors between the digital and traditional medium. We also identify the motivations behind reading the press and analyze the relationship between these motivations and the choice of the digital press. Thus, the two mediums could be considered complementary products, since they satisfy just one need and it is the same for both, but at the same time are associated with different reasons and occasions of use.     

An Empirical Validation of Perceived Importance and Behavior Intention in IT Ethics

Robin et al. (1996) suggested a new construct when studying ethical behavioral intention which they entitled PIE (perceived importance). They empirically tested the PIE construct and found it to significantly impact both ethical judgment and behavioral intention. The present study extends and validates Robin et al.s work on PIE using a different context, different scenarios and a different sample. The findings indicate strong support for the validity of Robin et al.s PIE instrument and show PIE to significantly influence ethical judgment (attitude) and behavioral intention. This study also indicates the sex of the individual affects the individuals perception of importance and is a significant influence of ethical judgment and behavioral intention. Future ethical models and studies should include PIE as a possible influence on behavioral intention.Timothy Paul Cronan is Professor of Information Systems and M.D. Matthews Lecturer in Business at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. Dr. Cronan received his D.B.A. from Louisiana Tech University and is an active member of the Decision Sciences Institute and The Association for Computing Machinery. He has served as Regional Vice President and on the Board of Directors of the Decision Sciences Institute and as President of the Southwest Region of the Institute. In addition, he has served as Associate Editor MIS Quarterly. His research interests include ethics in computing, local area networks, downsizing, expert systems, performance analysis and effectiveness, and end-user computing. His publications have appeared in Decision Sciences, MIS Quarterly, OMEGA The International Journal of Management Science, The Journal of Management Information Systems, Communications of the ACM, Journal of End User Computing, Database, Journal of Research on Computing in Education, Journal of Financial Research, as well as in other journals, and Proceedings of various Conferences. Lori N. K. Leonard is an Assistant Professor of Management Information Systems at the University of Tulsa. Dr. Leonard received her Ph.D. from the University of Arkansas and is an active member of the Decision Sciences Institute. Her research interests include electronic commerce, electronic data interchange, ethics in computing, simulation, and data warehousing. Her publications have appeared in Journal of Computer Information Systems, Information & Management, Journal of the Association for Information Systems, Journal of Organizational Computing and Electronic Commerce, Journal of End User Computing, as well as in other journals, and Proceedings of various Conferences. Jennifer Kreie is Associate Professor in Business Computer Systems at New Mexico State University. Dr. Kreie received the Ph.D. from the University of Arkansas. Her research interests include ethics in computing, end-user computing, systems development, and computer-aided instruction. She is an active member of the Decision Sciences Institute, the Association of Computing Machinery and the Association of Information Technology Professionals. Her publications have appeared in Communications of the ACM, Decision Support Systems, Journal of End User Computing, Journal of Accountancy, and the National Accountant as well as Proceedings of several Conferences.     

The Attitude of Indian Youth Toward Nutrition: Factors,Segments, and Implications

Although consumers’ attitude toward healthy or nutritious foods has been studied, factors affecting attitude have not been sufficiently studied. This study deals with the factors affecting the attitude of Indian youth toward nutrition. The article also attempts to segment youth consumers on the basis of their attitude. The responses of 379 youths to the specifically developed questionnaire were subjected to principal component analysis to identify attitudinal factors and to delineate the segments of youth cluster analysis. Discriminant analysis was performed to establish the differences among segments. Five factors, namely “not sure,” “volume consciousness,” “costly but willing to pay,” “healthy homemade,” and “taste and practical,” were identified as having influence on youths’ attitude toward nutrition. Marital status, gender, and cities where youths have spent their last 5 years had significant influence on those attitudinal factors. Based on the varying importance of different attitudinal factors, consumers were categorized in three distinct segments. Based on the findings of the study, different management interventions can be planned to increase the intake of nutritious food by the youths of different segments.     

Attitude Toward Globalization and Country-of-Origin Evaluations: Toward a Dynamic Theory

ABSTRACT

In theory, increased globalization should lead to greater openness to different cultures, thereby reducing consumer ethnocentrism and resulting in improved consumer perceptions and behavior with respect to foreign products. However, empirical studies testing the impact of globalization have met with mixed results possibly due to the effects of globalization occurring at different levels in the mind-sets among consumers. This notion of “multi-layered consciousness” and its effects on country of origin image are proposed and tested in a theoretical model incorporating a dynamic theory of globalization, to supplement the conventional theory of country-of-origin effects. As predicted, results showed that country-of-origin image is negatively influenced by consumer ethnocentrism, but is not positively influenced by globalization, despite consumers' self-perceived global mindsets (i.e., positive attitude toward globalization and subsequent global openness).     

Consumers’ Ethical Beliefs: The Roles of Money,Religiosity and Attitude toward Business

This article presents the results of a study that investigated the roles that one’s money ethic, religiosity and attitude toward business play in determining consumer attitudes/beliefs in various situations regarding questionable consumer practices. Two dimensions of religiosity – intrinsic and extrinsic religiousness – were studied. A global scale of money ethic was examined, as was a global measure of attitude toward business. Results indicate that both types of religiosity as well as one’s money ethic and attitude toward business were significant determinants of at least some types of consumer ethical beliefs. Scott J. Vitell is Phil B. Hardin Professor of Marketing at the University of Mississippi. He received his Ph.D. in Marketing from Texas Tech University. His recent publications have appeared in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, the Journal of Retailing, the Journal of Business Ethics and the Journal of Consumer Marketing, among others. Jatinder J. Singh is a Ph.D. student in marketing at the University of Mississippi. He received his masters from Punjab Technical University, India. He has authored papers previously published in the Journal of Business Ethics and a paper for the American Marketing Association’s Winter Educators’ Conference. Joseph G.P. Paolillo is a Professor of Management in the School of Business at the University of Mississippi. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Oregon, Eugene in Organization and Management. His publications have appeared in the Journal of Management, Journal of Management Studies, Human Relations, Group and Organization Studies, The Accounting Review, Journal of Advertising and Journal of Business Ethics, among several others.     

Exploring Cognitive Moral Logics Using Grounded Theory: The Case of Software Piracy

The article reports findings of a study conducted to explore the cognitive moral logics used for considering software piracy as ethical or unethical. Since the objective was to elicit the moral logics from the respondents, semi-structured in-depth interviews of 38 software professionals of India were conducted. The content of the interviews was analyzed using the grounded theory framework which does not begin with constructs and their interlinkages and then seek proof instead it begins with an area of study and allows them to emerge from that area of study. Given the objective of exploring moral logics, grounded theory seemed an appropriate choice. Results revealed that 21 respondents considered software piracy unethical whereas 17 did not. Though economic reasons formed the most fundamental logic in both the cases, an overall analysis revealed that the respondents mostly used moral justification (neutralization) for not considering software piracy unethical whereas those considering it unethical used normative (principled) logics. The interconnections among logics are analyzed and results are discussed along with the limitations of the study.     

浅析组织行为效率的影响因素

管理学所要解决的问题就是如何提高组织效率,完成组织目标,减少不必要的消耗。在现实工作中,很多工作的完成需要在组织中进行缜密分工和配合,在这一过程中,影响组织行为效率的因素包括人的因素、组织目标因素、良好的工作习惯、制度的因素、领导的因素五个方面。提高组织行为效率就是要追求每一个影响组织行为效率的因素发挥出最大的效能和作用。     

Antecedents and outcomes of digital influencer endorsement: An exploratory study

The advertising and marketing literature have established that celebrity endorsements constitute an effective way to enhance attitudes toward brands and increase purchase intents. However, there are no relevant studies on digital influencers. This study addresses the research gap by examining the effect of digital influencers' attractiveness and the effect of the congruence between a digital influencer and a brand on consumer attitudes and purchase intentions. By applying structural equation modeling to a sample of 307 followers of digital influencers, a model was tested and group analysis was performed for two categories (“entertainment & video games” and “fashion & beauty”). The results show that both brand attitudes and purchase intentions are influenced by the digital influencer's attractiveness (which includes both likeability and familiarity) and by the congruence between the digital influencer and the brand. This study makes several contributions to both theory and practice, which are highlighted in this paper.