IP Outreach Research > IP Crime
Reference
| Title: | Digital piracy: Ethical decision-making |
| Author: | Sulaiman Ali Al-Rafee [University of Arkansas] |
| Source: | PhD dissertation |
| Year: | 2002 |
Details
| Subject/Type: | Piracy |
| Focus: | Film, Music, Software, Video Games |
| Country/Territory: | United States of America |
| Objective: | To understand and explain digital piracy. |
| Sample: | 285 undergraduate business students |
| Methodology: | Questionnaire filled out during class time |
Main Findings
While digital piracy (of software, music, movies and games) is more prevalent among younger students, no difference was found between male and female students. The less Machiavellian (i.e. exhibiting a tendency to deceive and manipulate others for personal gain) students were and the more important they thought the piracy issue was, the less likely they are to engage in this illegal behaviour.
81.4% considered digital media to be overpriced and 70.4% did not believe that they would be caught if engaging in digital piracy. The support of loved ones may influence digital piracy behaviour. Students believe that it is easy to pirate digital content and that the result is as good as the original. They also do not feel guilty about pirating digital content. Affect, Machiavellianism and moral obligation were found to be good predictors of attitude, with the latter also being a good prediction of intention.
[Date Added: Aug 12, 2008 ]