Sharing or Piracy? An Exploration of Downloading Behavior

Abstract

This exploratory study applies and extends a new model of media attendance to examine factors that determine current levels of sharing files through peer-to-peer networks among college students, and to predict downloaders' intentions to discontinue the behavior in the future. In a multiple regression analysis, downloading activity was found to be positively related to deficient self-regulation and the expected social outcomes of downloading behavior. Downloading activity was lessened by dissatisfaction with poor quality downloads. Those who are willing to discontinue downloading are motivated by fear of punishment, but skilled and habitual downloaders were unlikely to discontinue. Normative beliefs also affected downloading. The perception that downloading was morally unacceptable was positively related to intentions to discontinue downloading, while beliefs that the behavior was morally acceptable were positively related to current downloading activity.

Internet usage and cosmopolitanism in Europe: a multilevel analysis

“…The most controversial trend probably concerns the rise of MP3 files and the subsequent increase of (illegal) downloading music, films, and games (LaRose, Lai, Lange, Love, & Wu, 2005), but also the rapid rise of webstores (e.g., Amazon) implies new ways of finding mediated culture. How transformations in accessing content reshape preferences have hardly been empirically examined.…”

Comparing software piracy in South Africa and Zambia using social cognitive theory

“…While economic factors are certainly important, other researchers (Bagchi, Kirs and Cerveny, 2006;LaRose, Lai, Lange, Love and Wu, 2005;Shin, Gopal, Sanders and Whinston, 2004) contend that individual, social and psychological factors also play a significant role in understanding software piracy behaviour. A review of the software piracy literature reveals three primary foci for the research.…”

“…A theoretical approach that has recently gained attention in attempts to understand the unauthorised downloading of software and music (LaRose and Kim, 2007;LaRose et al, 2005) has been Bandura's (1986) SCT. LaRose et al (2005) looked at the influence of outcome expectations, self-efficacy, deficient self-regulation, and moral justification (one aspect of moral disengagement) on file-sharing behaviour.…”

“…In a study on peer-to-peer file sharing (primarily music file sharing) LaRose et al (2005) found that the perceived moral acceptability (i.e. moral justification) was a significant predictor of downloading activity.…”

Ubiquität, Interaktivität, Konvergenz und die Medienbranche

“…Vor allem geübte Nutzer von Peer-toPeer-Börsen scheinen sich kaum vom illegalen Tausch abhalten zu lassen (LaRose et al 2005) bzw. ungeübte Nutzer stellen teilweise unbewusst ihre Files zur Verfügung, indem sie sich in entsprechende Systeme einloggen, die dann auf ihre Rechner zugreifen.…”