Discussing the critical issue of software piracy information. An exploratory examination of antecedents to software piracy. Elsewhere also, most of the software piracyrelated studies are limited to students and academics and very few have reported findings related to it professionals in different organizations. Implications for anti piracy programs and suggestions for future research are developed.
To find out whether and how cross cultural differences affect morality and behaviour toward software piracy. This paper examines the impact of the level of economic development, income inequality, and five cultural variables on the rate of software piracy at the country level. Lastly, there is increasing attention placed on the differences in. Piracy consists of file sharing, storage, publicity and promotion for free. Information development the effect of deterrence policy the. The first focus has been to understand the individual determinants of software piracy by exploring how software piracy varies with demographic factors such as age, and gender, socioeconomic status and frequency of computer use on software piracy intentions and behaviour sims. Many factors contribute to regional differences in piracythe strength of intellectual property protection, the availability of pirated software. Software piracy among it professionals in organizations. Information development the effect of deterrence policy.
The purpose of this study was to conduct a cross cultural comparison of a model predicting the intent of individuals to pirate software using two sub samples. Central to understanding deviant behaviour within sct is the. Software piracy some aspects for south african managers. However, the study had some shortcomings due to problems with the measurement of the dependent variable, piracy rate. May 23, 2006 software piracy still a scourge in asia.
In contrast, illegal software copying is common to all age groups, but younger age groups make more use of software piracy than older age groups. Cultural factors and software piracy howstuffworks. The proposed independent variables of this study are gender, age, income, type of education and experience level whereas the dependent variables are the use of pirated software, the reason for using pirated software, the type of pirated software used, the type of piracy and the. Software piracy is the stealing of legally protected software. They suggest that if the members of a culture feel a social distance from authority figures, they may be more likely to engage in behavior like software piracy source. This paper investigates software piracy in south africa because any computer. Villazon, nova southeastern university paul dion, nova southeastern university abstract previous research studied on information ethics have addressed the issue of misuse of computer technology through the concepts this study examines three cultural predictors of attitude towards software. The countries with the lower piracy rates also tend to be strong producers of intellectual property, and vice versa. Piracy is a term used to describe the illegal downloading of music, movies, games, and even software online. Originally, piracy began with the software industry, and the attitude they took regarding the matter was similar to that expressed by music companies. It respects the content creator by promoting the content creator and the content intact, distributing it widely and storing it in a historical archive in much the same ways that public libraries do. According to robert hollyman, bsa president and chief executive officer, software piracy robs the global economy of hundreds of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in wages and tax revenues. His research interests include information privacy, knowledge management systems, software piracy, and. Its interesting to see the very different views from both the music and the software industry.
This crosscultural study examines differences in morality and behavior toward software piracy in singapore versus the united states. The law is perfectly clear about its position on piracy for distribution to other people. Some have suggested that cultural differences and per capita gdp play a role in explaining the high software piracy rate in asian countries, as well as the significant changes. The impact of national culture on software piracy jstor. The majority of research done regarding gender where males were found more likely to pirate was done regarding software piracy.
Software piracy rates across countries have been widely analysed in economic literature. The questionnaire contains 10 questions which involve 10 variables as given in table 1. This study examines crossnational differences in relation to software piracy between a zambian and a south africa student sample on components of banduras social cognitive theory. Understanding software piracy in collectivistic countries acr.
Global losses from software piracy growing digital trends. Factors that can contribute to differences in software piracy include. A number of factors contribute to regional differences in piracy. Most of the more recent studies done have shown there to be no significant link when controlling other factors between gender and likelihood to engage. Our results suggest that the theory of reasoned action provides a strong predictive ability for our us sub sample, but not. While a few studies have related hofstedes culture.
The it market in the developed world is growing by less than 4 percent. However, the study had some shortcomings due to problems with the. This research is aimed at providing insights to software publishers and academics on how best to deal with the important problem of software piracy by analyzing the differences in the ethical profiles of individuals subscribing to eastern and western cultures and examine their influence on piracy behavior. The purpose of this study was to conduct a crosscultural comparison of a model predicting the intent of individuals to pirate software using two sub samples. Software piracy rates fall in china, russia internetnews. In addition, piracy is not uniform within a country.
Accordingly, husted made two valuable contributions. The effect of national culture and economic wealth on global. Bills like this are also meant to go after counterfeit products. Already throughout this website digital piracy and the law, various differences between countries have been. This paper builds on an existing software piracy model and adds cultural dimension by studying the differences between the u. Given the situation of software piracy in campus since it is a small community yet has quite big of potential software piracy practice. What are the arguments for and against software piracy and downloading ed material. Under law, software piracy occurs when protected software is copied, distributed, modified or sold.
The effect of deterrence policy in software piracy. Traphagan and griffith 1998 demonstrate that, although differences in software piracy rates may be due in part to national wealth, culture is also part of the equation. The differences in these findings is likely due to cultural differences. The determinants of software piracy approach by panel data. Simmons postulate that social mores may play a role in the decision to pirate software. Studies have reported that the pacific rim countries of singapore and hong kong are hotbeds of software piracy. Original comparing software piracy in south africa and. In some cases cultural intellectual property copying can be considered useful. These studies found piracy to increase with a society.
To find out whether and how crosscultural differences affect morality and behaviour toward software piracy. In piracy literature, many factors are considered to be influential on piracy behaviour. Unfortunately, the highpiracy regions are also the high marketgrowth regions. It does not include software run on servers and mainframes. Jul 15, 2015 piracy consists of file sharing, storage, publicity and promotion for free. To pirate or not to pirate thus raises a moral issue 5, and many studies have noted cultural differences in perceptions of software piracy 10, 11. Chulwoo yoo is currently a phd student in the department of management science and systems in the school of management at the state university of new york at buffalo. Uncertainty avoidance, individualism, and masculinity femininity. Software piracy is a damaging and important moral issue, which is widely beueved to be unchecked in particular areas of the globe. While a few studies have related hofstedes culture dimensions to. Cultural differences can make it easy to determine what is and is not ethicalespecially when it comes to the use of computers. They suggest that if the members of a culture feel a social distance from authority figures, they may be more likely to engage in behavior.
Salma haj fraj the determinants of software piracy approach by panel data and instrumental variables international journal of research in business studies and management v2 i2 february 2015 18 cultural differences software. Less work has been done to study differences in piracy rates at the country level. Software piracy continues to be a growing problem on a global scale for software developers. Technology, chinese culture and patriotism are found to moderate the conflicting discourses. The results imply that culture is more strongly tied to software piracy. Software piracy is a damaging and important moral issue, which is widely believed to be unchecked in particular areas of the globe. Comparing software piracy in south africa and zambia using social cognitive theory andrew thatcher, mary matthews psychology department, university of the witwatersrand, school of human and community development. Demographic information digital piracy and the music industry.
This article adopts actornetwork theory to explore the impacts of nonhuman and nonmaterial factors on chinese software users perceptions about software and piracy. Parents and teachers at whittier arts magnet school in berkeley, california, angrily recall the day last september when they found out they were considered software. Combating software piracy in the supply chain is a reasonable request and part of what makes bills like protect ip messy is that theres a kernel of this issue in these bills. Request pdf the impact of national culture on software piracy this paper. The correlation of software piracy and power distance was only marginally significant. Tens of billions of dollars of ed commercial material is exchanged illegally annually due to peertopeer networking sites and other downloadable methods, while it is also estimated that digital theft of ed content makes up over 20% of the internet traffic worldwide. Although many people dont feel that piracy is a crime that affects anybody, it really does. This cross cultural study examines differences in morality and. The impact of national culture on software piracy request pdf. The survey was conducted among it professionals from government and private sector organizations.
An exploratory examination of antecedents to software. True cultural differences can make it easy to determine what is and is not ethicalespecially when it comes to the use of computers. Do the differences between software piracy and media piracy matter. John gantz, chief research officer at idc, said a number of factors contribute to regional differences in software piracy rates, including a countrys intellectual property laws, cultural differences and the availability of illegal software. This crosscultural study examines differences in morality and. Software piracy costs the information technology industry billions of dollars in lost sales, each year. Do the differences between software piracy and media piracy. Piracy is the absence of respect for the works of others. The sample was selected based on the vastly different software piracy rates between zambia 82% and south africa 35% and the fact that software piracy rates are.
It doesnt matter whether you duplicate a cd and sell it or give it away for free. They suggest that if the members of a culture feel a social distance from. Software piracy some aspects for south african managers to. A bad copy of a bootleg movie is just as much piracy as a copy with that is identical to the original. Demographic information digital piracy and the music. Perhaps it is the ultimate expression of the idiotic snitches get stitches mentality that pervades western. Many factors contribute to regional differences in piracy the strength of intellectual property protection, the availability of pirated software. It often benefits the thief personally, careerwise and or commercially and it violates the fair use doctrine. The study finds that software piracy is significantly correlated to gnp per capita, income inequality, and individualism. The cultural implications of digital piracy digital. The difference between piracy and copyright infringement.
Implications for antipiracy programs and suggestions for future research are developed. Many of the studies have a larger amount of male participants than female participants, so this fact may also play into it. Online piracy is one of the most challenging problems faced by the software and entertainment industries today. Software piracy is considered direct infringement when it denies holders due compensation for use of their creative works. So, essentially the difference between plagiarism and piracy is. Oct 30, 2012 software piracy is the stealing of legally protected software.
The effect of national culture and economic wealth on. Lastly, there is increasing attention placed on the differences in piracy across countries. Software piracy and music piracy are two rather different topics. Fourth annual bsa and idc global software piracy study 3 the global picture figure 1 shows the relative ranking by piracy rate of seven regions, which consist of 102. However, software piracy could have some positive effects on countries with a high piracy rate. A number of factors contribute to the regional differences in piracy, including localmarket size, the availability of pirated software, the strength of laws, and cultural differences regarding intellectual property rights, said john gantz, chief research officer at idc. In his paper on the impact of national culture on software piracy, husted focus on knowing whether different national factors could influence the behaviour of. Pdf software piracy among it professionals in organizations. Online piracy versus policy and cultural influencers.
In western europe, for example, the wide differences in piracy rates from a high. Feb 10, 2012 unfortunately, though, these aspects of piracy quickly gets muddled with cultural facets of piracy, particularly once the media industries have gotten involved. Possible reasons for the different piracy rates are presented. What are the arguments for and against software piracy and.
The impact of national culture on software piracy springerlink. This paper builds on an existing software piracy model and adds a cultural dimension. Do the differences between software piracy and media. Some cultures are more predisposed than others to pirate, and other countries are more likely to purchase legitimate intellectual property. He holds a masters degree in economics from seoul national university, korea. The connection between software piracy and national culture is that software piracy involves engaging in an illegal act. Unfortunately, the high piracy regions are also the high marketgrowth regions. Of the four hofstede dimensions, three were significantly related to software piracy at the 0. It disrespects the content creator by stealing their content, often changing it, and doing so in such a way that the thief implies they are the creator. However, as time has progressed, many software companies have come to see a great value in piracy. Elsewhere also, most of the software piracy related studies are limited to students and academics and very few have reported findings related to it professionals in different organizations. Comparing software piracy in south africa and zambia using.
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