Predicting the Use of Pirated Software: A Contingency Model Integrating Perceived Risk with the Theory of Planned Behavior

As software piracy continues to be a threat to the growth of national and global economies, understanding why people continue to use pirated software and learning how to discourage the use of pirated software are urgent and important issues. In addition to applying the theory of planned behavior (TPB) perspective to capture behavioral intention to use pirated software, this paper considers perceived risk as a salient belief influencing attitude and intention toward using pirated software. Four perceived risk components related to the use of pirated software (performance, social, prosecution and psychological risks) have been identified, measured and tested. Data were collected through an online survey of 305 participants. The results indicate that perceived prosecution risk has an impact on intention to use pirated software, and perceived psychological risk is a strong predictor of attitude toward using pirated software. In addition, attitude and perceived behavior control contribute significantly to the intended use of pirated software. However, the proposed direct relationship between subjective norm and intention to use pirated software is not supported. Implications for research and practice 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.     

Do Traditional Chinese Cultural Values Nourish a Market for Pirated CDs?

On one hand, Chinese consumers are well known for conspicuous consumption and the adoption of luxury products and named brands. On the other hand, they also have a bad reputation for buying counterfeit products. Their simultaneous preferences for two contrasting types of product present a paradox that has not been addressed in the literature. This study attempts to present an explanation of this paradox by examining the effects of traditional Chinese cultural values and consumer values on consumers’ deontological judgment of pirated CDs and the amount of social benefits they perceive they gain from them. We interviewed 300 Hong Kong Chinese consumers, and found that face consciousness increased materialism and risk aversion, thereby producing a favorable deontological judgment of pirated CDs. Face consciousness also has a direct effect on the amount of social benefits perceived in pirated CDs. Both favorable deontological judgment and perceived social benefits contributed to a strong intention to buy pirated CDs. The results are discussed in a cultural perspective.     

Pirate or Buy? The Moderating Effect of Idolatry

Due to the development of information technology, music piracy has become an escalating problem. This study attempts to employ the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the social identity theory to investigate the antecedents of downloading pop music illegally from the Internet, the relationship between the intention to illegally download music and the intention to buy music, and the moderating effects of idolatry. Data were collected from 350 teenagers in Northern Taiwan through questionnaire interviews conducted in city centers where teenagers gather. The results of partial least squares (PLS) analyses reconfirm the explanatory power of the TPB model with regard to the pop music illegal downloading behavior. However, it is interesting to note that the intention to illegally download music does not have a significant influence on the intention to buy music. This finding contradicts our common intuitions. Further analyses also reveal that idolatry moderates the relationship between the intention to illegally download music and the intention to buy music. For teenagers with high idolatry, a higher music downloading intention results in a lower buying intention. One possible explanation is the price of music CDs. Several interviews were also held to verify our results. Implications and a discussion are then provided.     

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.     

To Blow or not to Blow: An Experimental Study on the Intention to Whistleblow on Software Piracy

Using the Behavioral Reasoning Theory, we examine the factors that determine individuals' attitudes toward and intentions to whistleblow on the use of pirated software. A scenario-based experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of the relationship between the potential whistleblower and wrongdoing party as well as the monetary incentive and the level of legal protection provided to the whistleblowers. Results suggest that the relationship with the company and legal protection had moderating effects on the relationship between whistleblowing attitude and intention. The study provides theoretical understanding regarding whistleblowing behavior in the context of software piracy as well as numerous managerial implications for the stakeholders of the software industry.     

The role of religious leaders on digital piracy attitude and intention

This study examines the role of religious leaders and individual's religiousness in affecting attitude towards digital piracy and behavior intention. The data analysis of 400 usable responses from a religious organisations provided several significant relationships. Attitude towards digital piracy and subjective norms has a negative relationship with digital piracy intention. There are also significant differences between highly religious and less religious respondents in terms of their attitude towards digital piracy, motivation to comply with their religious leaders, and intention to engage in digital piracy behavior.     

The Cosmopolitical Corporation

Moral issues have been included in the studies of consumer misbehavior research, but little is known about the joint moderating effect of moral intensity and moral judgment on the consumer’s use intention of pirated software. This study aims to understand the consumer’s use intention of pirated software in Taiwan based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB) proposed by Ajzen (Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50, 179, 1991). In addition, moral intensity and moral judgment are adopted as a joint moderator to examine their combined influence on the proposed research framework. The results obtained from this Taiwan case reveal that the antecedent constructs proposed in the TPB model–an individual’s attitude and subjective norms toward using pirated software, and perceived behavioral control to use pirated software–indeed have positive impacts on the consumer’s use intention of pirated software. In addition, the joint moderating effect of moral intensity and moral judgment is manifested in the consumer’s use intention of pirated software. The results of this study not only could substantiate the results of consumer misbehavior research, but also could provide some managerial suggestions for Taiwanese government authorities concerned and the related software industries devoted to fighting pirated software.     

Predictors of Usage Intentions of Pirated Software

The purpose of this study is to investigate the salient factors influencing consumers’ attitudes and usage intentions towards pirated software. Using the Theory of Planned Behaviour, this study investigates the relationships between three sets of factors, i.e. personal, social and perceived behavioural control onto attitudes towards pirated software. Through a multiple regression, only personal factors have shown significant relationship with attitudes towards software piracy. Further results from this study have supported that favourable attitudes towards pirated software is likely to result in stronger intentions to use pirated software. It was found that computer proficiency acts as a predictor for intentions towards pirated software, rather than a moderator as originally postulated.     

The Impact of Ethical Ideologies,Moral Intensity,and Social Context on Sales-Based Ethical Reasoning

Previous research indicates that ethical ideologies, issue-contingencies, and social context can impact ethical reasoning in different business situations. However, the manner in which these constructs work together to shape different steps of the ethical decision-making process is not always clear. The purpose of this study was to address these issues by exploring the influence of idealism and relativism, perceived moral intensity in a decision-making situation, and social context on the recognition of an ethical issue and ethical intention. Utilizing a sales-based scenario and multiple ethics measures included on a self-report questionnaire, data were collected from a regional sample of business students, most of whom had modest work experience. The results indicated that perceived moral intensity was associated with increased ethical issue recognition and ethical intention. Idealism was also associated with increased ethical issue recognition, and relativism was associated with decreased ethical intention. Social consensus was positively related to ethical issue recognition and intention, while competitive context was inversely related to ethical intention. Finally, ethical issue recognition was associated with increased ethical intention. Idealism, moral intensity, social consensus, and work experience worked together as predictors of ethical issue recognition, whereas recognition of an ethical issue, relativism, moral intensity, social consensus, and competitive context worked together to predict ethical intention.     

Family firms’ identity communication and consumers’ product involvement impact on consumer response

The purpose of this study is to determine whether the image transfer theory and the elaboration likelihood model can provide a theoretical framework capable of assessing the influence of consumers’ product involvement and family firms’ identity communication through websites on consumer responses. This research conducted an experiment using an eye‐tracking technique measuring attention to family and nonfamily corporate websites. The procedure involved 120 participants. Consistent with the image transfer theory, family firms’ identity through websites positively impacts attitude toward the website and intention to buy. Additionally, the attitude toward the website affects the relationship between family firms’ identity through websites and the intention to buy. In line with the elaboration likelihood model, consumers’ product involvement negatively impacts the relationship between family firms’ identity through websites and intention to buy.     

Investigating Software Piracy in Jordan: An Extension of the Theory of Reasoned Action

Software piracy, the illegal and unauthorized duplication, sale, or distribution of software, is a widespread and costly phenomenon. According to Business Software Alliance (2008), over 41% of the PC software packages installed worldwide were unauthorized copies. Software piracy behavior has been investigated for more than 30 years. However, after a review of the relevant literature, there appears to be two voids in this literature: a lack of studies in non-Western countries and a scarcity of process studies. This study contributes to literature by developing a software piracy model to better understand the decision-making process that underlies this unethical behavior. The model was tested using data collected from a sample of 323 undergraduate business students. Consistent with the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), attitudes toward software piracy and subjective norms were significant predictors of intention to pirate software. Also, the results suggested that ethical ideology, public self-consciousness, and low self-control moderated the effect of these variables on intention to pirate software. The results have important practical implications for the software industry and governments hoping to curtail software piracy. Limitations of the study and recommendations for future studies are discussed as well.     

Veganism: Theory of planned behaviour,ethical concerns and the moderating role of catalytic experiences

The growing movement of veganism culture is drawing increasing scientific attention but falls short of an empirical investigation to examine antecedents and catalytic experiences for maintaining vegan diets. An integrated theoretical framework is proposed using the Theory of Planned Behaviour Model (TPB) and includes ethical concerns to investigate the interrelationships. Comparisons are also made by adopting the strength of high and low ethical catalytic experiences of each consumer group to identify moderating results. The proposed conceptual model was tested using Structural Equation Modelling from the responses of 478 vegan consumers. Results indicate that the TPB factors exert positive effects on the buying intention and ethical concerns mediate the relationship between attitudes and intention, as well as between PBC and intention, however, social norms did not impact ethical concerns.While consumers experiencing high catalytic experience had no significance, low catalytic experience consumers showed an inverse significant moderating relationship on PBC and maintaining vegan diets. Whereas the relationship for ethical concerns influencing the intention to buy vegan foods was significant and positive for the high catalytic experienced consumer, but not significant for the low catalytic experienced consumer. The moderating results for social norms were not significant on ethical concerns for the high catalytic experienced consumer but were negatively significant for the low catalytic experienced consumers indicating that the effect of peer pressure increase, results in a decline for ethical considerations.These findings offer strong theoretical and practical implications by contributing to the understanding of consumers’ behavioural intention to undertake vegan diets and extending our knowledge for formulating retail strategies to effectively tailor their offerings for this consumer segment.     

Schadenfreude,attitude and the purchase intentions of a counterfeit luxury brand

Luxury brand counterfeiting is illegal and its harmful effects on genuine brands and on the wider society are well known. Nonetheless, it has not prevented consumers to buy copies. This study introduces a new variable, Schadenfreude – the pleasure felt in response to another's misfortune – and examines how this emotion relates to the intention to purchase a counterfeit, the attitude toward the original brand, and the attitude toward the counterfeit. An online questionnaire was completed by 420 respondents who were presented a scenario involving the Louis Vuitton brand and a counterfeit. Using structural equation modeling, four hypotheses were supported. Major findings show that Schadenfreude is positively correlated with the intention to buy and the attitude toward counterfeiting and negatively correlated with the attitude toward the original brand. Luxury goods firms should be aware of the potential negative effects of Schadenfreude.     

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.     

Religiosity, Attitude Toward Business, and Ethical Beliefs: Hispanic Consumers in the United States

Growth of the Hispanic consumer population in America is changing the marketplace landscape. Due to their considerable buying power, a better understanding of Hispanic consumer behavior has become a necessity. The marketing literature has examined issues regarding religiosity and attitude toward business in regards to consumer ethical beliefs as well as research differentiating consumers on the basis of ethnicity due to their inherently different religious principles. Therefore, the present study contributes to the existing consumer ethics literature by examining the roles of religiosity and attitude toward business in determining consumer ethical beliefs. Furthermore, this study compares the relationships among religiosity, attitude toward business, and ethical beliefs at the sub-cultural level (i.e., between Hispanic and Anglo-American consumers). Survey data compare a sample of 187 predominately Catholic Hispanic consumers with a sample of 127 predominately protestant Anglo consumers. Results suggest a positive relationship between intrinsic religiousness and beliefs that questionable consumer activities are unethical. However, extrinsic religiousness does not impact consumer views as to the ethicality of consumer practices. Hispanics exhibit higher levels of extrinsic religiousness than Anglos, but no difference in terms of their intrinsic religiousness. Results also suggest that Hispanics have a more negative attitude toward business than Anglos do. Implications of these results are discussed.     

Urban Perceptions of Print Advertisements in the Indian Subcontinent:

This exploratory research investigates the relationship between the degree of westernization of urban consumers in India and their perceptions toward American origin print advertisements versus print advertisements of Indian origin of the same products. The study also explores the relationship between the advertising perceptions and the behavioral intention to buy the advertised product. The results indicate that the educated, middle-class, urban respondents, irrespective of their degree of westernization, seem to like both the Indian as well as the American advertisements. The findings seem to favor the case of standardization of advertising messages. The results also indicate that there is a positive relationship between the attitude towards the advertisement (Aad) and the behavioral intention to buy (BIB) the advertised product.     

Advertising Ethics: The Use of Sexual Appeal in Chinese Advertising

With increasing social awareness of unethical advertisements in today's advertising, this study explores consumers' ethical judgements about the use of sexual appeals in advertising in a Chinese context by replicating LaTour and Henthorne's study. It specifically focuses upon responses on the Reidenbach-Robin multidimensional ethical scale, attitude toward the ad, attitude toward the brand and purchase intentions. The results show that sexual appeal was evaluated as the most frequent use in Hong Kong print advertising and they were also perceived as the most attractive instrument. Similar to LeTour and Henthorne's findings, regardless of respondent's gender, the use of a strong overt sexual appeal was not well received by Chinese consumers and resulted in less favorable attitude toward the ad itself and the purchase intention than using mild sexual themes. However, the degree of sexual content used in advertising has no direct influence on brand attitudes. Due to the conservative nature of Chinese culture, the advertisers should be careful in the use of sexual appeal for Chinese consumers.     

Understanding Attitudes Towards Genetically Modified Food: The Role of Values and Attitude Strength

Summary This study was aimed at gaining a better understanding of the nature of negative attitudes towards genetically modified (GM) food. A sample of 250 students at the University of Tromsø responded to a questionnaire measuring attitudes towards GM food, attitude strength, intention to buy such food, and their personal values. Values and attitude strength proved to be important constructs when explaining the attitudes. A structural model was estimated, confirming that the negative attitudes towards GM food were embedded in universalism and hedonism values, and also predicted behavioural intention to buy such food. Attitude centrality was found to moderate the value-attitude relationship. Central attitudes mediated the relation between values and behavioural intention, while for the less central attitudes there was no relation between values and attitudes. Rather, both were independent predictors of intention. The study showed that some individuals hold weak attitudes and therefore may be more likely to change their attitude than those whose attitude is embedded in values.     

An Exploratory Study of the Impact of Degree of Religiousness Upon an Individual's Corporate Social Responsiveness Orientation

The recent failures and scandals involving many large businesses have highlighted the importance of corporate social responsibility as a fundamental factor in the soundness of the free market system. The corporate social responsiveness orientation of business executives plays an important role in corporate decision making since managers make important decisions on behalf of their corporations. This paper explores whether there is a relationship between an individual's degree of religiousness and his or her corporate social responsiveness (CSR) orientation. The results of a survey of 473 business students found a significant relationship between degree of religiousness and attitudes toward the economic and ethical components of CSR. Some explanations as well as limited generalizations and implications are developed.