RT Article
T1 The Effect of Interpersonal Influence on Softlifting Intention and Behaviour
JF Journal of business ethics
VO 56
IS 2
SP 149
OP 161
A1 Tang, Jih-Hsin
A2 Farn, Cheng-Kiang
LA English
YR 2005
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1785623087
AB The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of interpersonal influence on personal software piracy, also known as softlifting. A laboratory experiment with 54 subjects was conducted, in which each subject was told to participate in a software quality evaluation exercise. However, a ploy was carried out to measure the subjects’ intention in software piracy under different levels of group pressure and financial gains. The results are interesting. On the intention of softlifting, both group pressure and financial gains are significant determinants. The interaction of group pressure and financial gains is also significant: when group pressure is toward pirating software, financial gains is not a relevant factor; whereas when group pressure is toward purchasing, financial gains becomes a dominant factor in softlifting intention. A further survey (with 216 college students from two public universities in Taiwan) designed to investigate the relationship between consumer susceptibility to interpersonal influence (Bearden et al., 1989) and softlifting intention/behavior. A path analysis demonstrated that normative influence was related to softlifting intention, yet information influence effect was marginal. The effect of normative influence on softlifting behavior was mainly mediated by softlifting intention. Implications are also discussed.
K1 Software Piracy
K1 softlifting
K1 information ethics
K1 group pressure
K1 financial gains
K1 Conformity
DO 10.1007/s10551-004-2170-9