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IP Outreach Research > IP Crime

Reference

Title: To Purchase or to Pirate Software: An Empirical Study
Author: Hsing K Cheng and Ronald R Sims [College of William and Mary], Hildy Teegen [George Washington University]
Source:

Journal of Management Information Systems  13, no. 4: 49-60
Year: 1997

Details

Subject/Type: Piracy
Focus: Software
Country/Territory: United States of America
Objective: To identify the underlying reasons for individuals to pirate as well as to purchase software.
Sample: 340 undergraduate and graduate business students
Methodology: Questionnaire

Main Findings

The study found that the top reasons to purchase software were, in order of importance: purchase "required for school work or workplace"; "use the software all the time" and "availability of a manual". By contrast, conformance to law or to company policy had little impact on the purchasing decision.

Top reasons to pirate software relate mainly to software pricing: "software too expensive", "want to try out the software" and "cannot afford the software". For lower-income households the "cannot afford the software" reason is especially important. It seems thus that pirates behave rationally, basing their decision on economic parameters.

Given their research findings, the authors recommend that software manuals be made available and that software be priced according to a potential buyer's household income.

[Date Added: Aug 12, 2008 ]

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