Digital Piracy of MP3s: Consumer and Ethical Predispositions

Purpose – Illegal downloading of music has become an inexorable and rampant activity particularly among college students who have been little deterred by industry legal actions. The purpose of this research is to examine the present state of downloading and how ethical orientation and attitudes towards MP3 piracy impact such activities. The paper also aims to use ethical scenarios as a way of understanding the ethical reasoning in illegal downloading. Design/methodology/approach – Key research questions are proposed that are related to illegal downloading. A sample of 364 university students was used to examine each research question. Statistical results are reported. Findings – The results clearly show that downloading continues at a high rate today driven by a strong belief that it is not ethically wrong. Ethical orientation was found to be positively associated with awareness of the social cost of downloading, consequences of downloading, and ethical belief in downloading. Ethical scenarios show that ethical orientation is also associated with downloading activities and with stealing. Other results indicate that respondents believe that their peers are more prone to stealing music and downloading MP3s illegally. Fear of consequences does seem to have an impact on the propensity to download illegally. Practical implications – The paper contributes to inform industry representatives that appeals to ethics or guilt are not likely to deter illegal downloading measurably. The use of punishment for downloaders may have a short-term effect but other (more positive) measures are required. Originality/value – No research has examined downloading of MP3s in the manner developed in this paper. The paper contributes to a better understanding of consumer behavior among those who download. The results provide insight into a serious problem in the recording industry that is likely to persist in the distant future unless sound measures are developed

Lowering the pirate flag: a TPB study of the factors influencing the intention to pay for movie streaming services

The launch of several movie streaming services has raised new questions about how online consumers deal with both legal and illegal options to obtain their desired products. This paper investigates the factors influencing consumers’ intentions to subscribe to online movie streaming services. These services have challenged the dramatic growth in their illegal counterpart in recent years. Taking the theory of planned behavior as a starting point, we extended existing models in the literature by incorporating factors that are specific to consumer behavior in this particular field. A quantitative survey was conducted for the Italian market, and structural equation modeling was used for data analysis. Attitudes, involvement with products, moral judgement and frequency of past behavior were found to be the most important factors in explaining the intention to pay for movie streaming services. The paper provides insights for policy makers and industry managers on the marketing communication strategies needed to minimize the risk of digital piracy

Determinants of Consumer Willingness to Purchase Non-Deceptive Counterfeit Products and the European Union

This study offers insights into non-deceptive counterfeiting by focusing on consumers in a new EU member country. More specifically, consumers’ inclination to purchase counterfeits at various price levels relative to retail prices of genuine branded products is examined, and the effects of various socio-economic and socio-psychological characteristics are explored. In reviewing the consumer behavior literature and recent empirical work, a conceptual model of consumer general willingness to purchase counterfeit products was developed. Using path analyses to test the system of structural relationships among the variables, inconsistent patterns of results were found across three classes of counterfeit products. Implications for management and further research are provided.counterfeit products, consumer unethical behavior, willingness to buy, Slovenia

Factors influencing buying behavior of piracy products and its impact to Malaysian market

The primary attempt in this study was to explore the influencing factors of the Malaysian consumers toward the pirated products. To explore these factors, this study has conducted a survey among the Malaysian consumers. The results of the study showed that there is significant relationship between the consumers’ perception and the social influence, personality or believe, pricing and the economy toward the piracy. Results also show that society has strong influence on the consumers’ personality and believes, that leads to grow consumers’ perception. On the other hand, it is revealed that most of the respondents are willing to buy pirated product because cost effective. Since, price plays a key role to convey individuals toward price sensitive, therefore it is important for the marketers or producers to be attentive of pricing. More importantly marketer can decrease the production cost and secondly, they shows intention to reduce their profit margin. To perform all those necessary steps need to set up the price by considering the all income groups. That will help to reducing the consumers’ consumption of pirated goods. Though, there is no doubt about the quality of original products but they should look at the price

Pirated software: ethical attitudes and purchase behaviour of consumers

This study investigates the ethical attitudes and purchase behaviour of Indonesian consumers towards software piracy. While previous studies have uncovered various motivations that drive consumers from different countries to engage in this undesirable behaviour, changes in the business landscape, including advancement in technology, necessitates a revisit into the attitudes and purchase intentions towards pirated software. It is found that habitual behaviour, integrity, facilitating conditions, and personal gratification are significant predictors of consumers’ attitudes towards software piracy. Habitual behaviour and facilitating conditions are also found to be predictors of purchase intention. In contrast to prior studies, collectivism, normative and informative susceptibility, and value consciousness do not influence either attitudes towards and purchase intentions of pirated software. The main implication of this study is the clear indication that different strategies need to be formulated to curb software piracy in an emerging economy such as Indonesia

Consumer behavior and counterfeit purchase in the Tanzanian mainland

The primary focus of the present study is to examine the influence of moral judgement, subjective norm and self-regulatory efficacy in predicting behavioural intention to purchase counterfeit products among Tanzanian consumers. This study also aims to examine the direct relationship between self-regulatory efficacy and purchase behaviour of counterfeit products. In addition, the present study also fills the gap in the intention-actual behaviour relationship by examining the moderating effect of idolatry on the relationship between consumers’ behavioural intention and purchase behaviour of counterfeit products. The present study also aims to examine to what extent intention to purchase counterfeit products contributes to the purchase behaviour of counterfeit products among Tanzanian consumers.It is an attempt to develop a conceptual framework for determining purchasing behaviour of counterfeit products in Tanzania. The aim is to provide adequate information to marketers on how to reap the expected benefits of sales as well as to facilitate prompt decision-making by the government through the execution and implementation of stringent regulations

The influence of ethical attitudes and purchase behaviour for pirated software

This study investigates the ethical attitudes and purchase behaviour of Indonesian consumers towards software piracy. While previous studies have uncovered various motivations that drive consumers from different countries to engage in this undesirable behaviour, changes in the business landscape, including advancement in technology, necessitates a revisit into the attitudes and purchase intentions towards pirated software. It is found that habitual behaviour, integrity, facilitating conditions, and personal gratification are significant predictors of consumers' attitudes towards software piracy. Habitual behaviour and facilitating conditions are also found to be predictors of purchase intention. In contrast to prior studies, collectivism, normative and informative susceptibility, and value consciousness do not influence either attitudes towards and purchase intentions of pirated software. The main implication of this study is the clear indication that different strategies need to be formulated to curb software piracy in an emerging economy such as Indonesia

Digital piracy: An assessment of consumer piracy risk and optimal supply chain coordination strategies.

Digital piracy and the emergence of new distribution channels have changed the dynamics of supply chain coordination and created many interesting problems. There has been increased attention to understanding the phenomenon of consumer piracy behavior and its impact on supply chain profitability. The purpose of this dissertation is to better understand the impact of digital piracy on online music channel and optimal supply chain strategies which achieve high levels of coordination. A multi-method approach including survey, mathematical modeling, and simulation are used to a) analyze the impact of piracy on digital music channel coordination under different contract arrangements, b) develop theoretical and operational basis for conceptualizing a measurement model of consumer piracy risk, c) examine the effectiveness of piracy control strategies used to dissuade consumers from illegal music downloads. Findings from this dissertation contribute to the literature on digital piracy, consumer piracy behavior, online channel distribution, and supply chain coordination, and provide several important managerial implications

Consumer Decision Model of Intelectual Property Theft in Emerging Markets

The increasing importance of digital piracy has prompted research on the behavioural and economics origins of illegal downloading activities. This research focuses on the potential impact of various economic, psychological and social factors on the consumer decision whether to buy or to steal music in emerging markets. These markets present specific difficulties for owners of intellectual property rights due to the high level of both downloading and ‘sharing’ of digital property. Results indicate impacts of price, downloaded music quality, ease of Internet use, attitudes toward music industry and ethical perception of music downloading on consumer purchase or pirate decision

Interplay of the drivers and deterrents of leisure counterfeit purchase intentions

Drawing on complementary theoretical perspectives, in this study we empirically investigate the drivers and deterrents underlying the formation of attitudes to leisure counterfeits and purchase intentions, and examine rationalization as a moderator of the attitude-intention relationship. The research model is examined via mail survey data of adult consumers using structural equations modelling. The findings indicate that perceived benefits and moral intensity significantly influence attitudes, while the impact of performance risk is negligible. The attitude and moral intensity significantly predict the purchase intention. Our analyses confirm rationalization as a salient factor moderating the relationship between attitude and behavioral intention. Based on this pattern of results, we discuss study implications in three areas: the perception of positive consequences for oneself, the perception of consequences for others, and the use of previously rarely examined consumer justifications. The finding that performance risk is not significant in affecting consumer attitude calls into question various appeals featuring adverse effects of buying counterfeits for an individual. First published online: 29 Dec 201