To Purchase or to Pirate Software: An Empirical Study.

Author List: Cheng, Hsing K.; Sims, Ronald R.; Teegen, Hildy;
Journal of Management Information Systems, 1997, Volume 13, Issue 4, Page 49-60.
Illegal copying of computer software, usually called software piracy, is a prevalent and serious problem. Some researchers attribute the widespread incidence of software piracy to people's attitudes toward piracy behavior and peer norms. However, current literature leaves unanswered a fundamental question of why individuals pirate software. The objective of this paper is to identify the underlying reasons why individuals pirate software. We also identify what motivates individuals to purchase software as opposed to pirating it. Understanding why individuals purchase and pirate software has clear value for policy makers to develop effective measures to curb the software piracy problem.
Keywords: income effect in software acquisition; software piracy; software purchase.
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List of Topics

#232 0.240 software development product functionality period upgrade sampling examines extent suggests factors considered useful uncertainty previous called complementarities greater cost present
#201 0.180 piracy goods digital property intellectual rights protection presence legal consumption music consumers enforcement publisher pirate producers policies copyright provision profits
#138 0.120 use question opportunities particular identify information grammars researchers shown conceptual ontological given facilitate new little constraints dual answer post-adoption theory
#228 0.084 internet peer used access web influence traditional fraud world ecology services impact cases wide home studies addition choice 2008 telephone
#118 0.078 online consumers consumer product purchase shopping e-commerce products commerce website electronic results study behavior experience b2c impact internet purchases websites
#31 0.072 problem problems solution solving problem-solving solutions reasoning heuristic theorizing rules solve general generating complex example formulation heuristics effective given finding