The Effect of Interpersonal Influence on Softlifting Intention and Behaviour

Tang, Jih Hsin; Farn, Cheng-Kiang

doi:10.1007/s10551-004-2170-9

Cited by 46 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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Section: Power and (Un)ethical Influencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Sonenshein (2007) pointed out that many ethical issues in organizations involve a great deal of equivocality, making it likely for individuals to use social input to construct their interpretation of ethical issues and decide on the appropriate response. For instance, studies by Tang and Farn (2005) showed that informational influence (awareness of others' decisions) explained why some individuals were more willing to engage in software piracy.Finally, employees may also conform because they are motivated to gain social approval (i.e., normative influence, Deutsch & Gerard, 1955). Cialdini, Petrova, and Goldstein (2004: 70) noted that "Honest employees can be converted into wrongdoers in various ways, but the process often begins with peer pressure."…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Compliant Sinners, Obstinate Saints: How Power and Self-Focus Determine the Effectiveness of Social Influences in Ethical Decision Making

Pitesa

Thau

2013

AMJ

116

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Effectiveness of Social Influences in Ethical Decision Making AbstractIn this research, we examine when and why organizational environments influence how employees respond to moral issues. Past research proposed that social influences in organizations affect employees' ethical decision making, but did not explain when and why some individuals are affected by the organizational environment and some disregard it. To address this problem, we drew on research on power to propose that power makes people more self-focused, which, in turn, makes them more likely to act upon their preferences and ignore (un)ethical social influences. Using both experimental and field methods, we tested our model across the three main paradigms of social influence: informational influence (Study 1 and 2), normative influence (Study 3), and compliance (Study 4). Results offer converging evidence for our theory. Word Count Abstract: 123Keywords: ethical decision making, power, social influences, self-focus POWER AND (UN)ETHICAL INFLUENCES 3Members of organizations are often faced with moral issues, defined as situations in which "a person's actions, when freely performed, may harm or benefit others" (Jones, 1991: 367). An employee might be tempted to exaggerate, rather than accurately report, time spent on a project to receive a larger bonus; another employee may have to decide whether to deceive the other party in a negotiation to secure a more favorable outcome. While deciding on moral issues, employees are exposed to social influences that can impact their ethical decision making. These social influences range from explicit organizational ethical standards to others' (un)ethical behavior as an indirect indicator of acceptable conduct in their organization (for a review, see Kish-Gephart, Harrison, & Treviño, 2010). Both ethical decision-making theory (Sonenshein, 2007;Treviño, 1986) and related studies (Gino, Ayal, & Ariely, 2009;Pierce & Snyder, 2008;Treviño, Butterfield, & McCabe, 1998) suggest that employees' ethical decision making will be consistent with the social influence they are exposed to. Those working in an organization with an ethical code of conduct are expected to make more ethical decisions (Treviño et al., 1998) whereas those working in organizations in which unethical behavior is widespread are more likely to make unethical decisions themselves (Pierce & Snyder, 2008).Although social influence has a powerful impact on individual decision making Turner, 1991), not all employees are swayed by their context when responding to moral issues. For example, news reports tell stories about cheating employees within organizations whose members typically do not cheat (Weisman, 2007). Similarly, there are employees who make ethical decisions while their coworkers follow their self-interest (Russell, 2011). This suggests that some employees ignore their social context and, for better or worse, follow their own preferences for ethical or unethical conduct. This phenomenon remains unexplained by past theories on ethical decision m...

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Section: Power and (Un)ethical Influencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Compliant Sinners, Obstinate Saints: How Power and Self-Focus Determine the Effectiveness of Social Influences in Ethical Decision Making

Pitesa

Thau

2013

AMJ

116

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“…Siegfried (2004) believed surveyed students were likely to be more candid without identifying information in questionnaires. Tang and Farn (2005) studied the effect of interpersonal influences on illegitimate usage of software using survey data conducted in universities. In the literature, surveys were administered to reveal software piracy issues, and student surveys were used widely to examine the illegal usage of software products .…”

Section: Questionnaire and Surveymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For software piracy, legislation and education may lessen the seriousness of the problem, but may not stop users from using, reproducing, sharing, and distributing unauthorized software. Tang and Farn (2005) suggested assessing perceived value of software products in order to generalize prices in the market.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for Non-pirated Software

Hsu

Shiue

2007

J Bus Ethics

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“…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, Cheng and Teegen, 1996;Rahim et al, 2000;Hinduja, 2003). The second focus has been to consider the impact of social contextual variables including interpersonal interactions (Glass and Wood, 1996;Tang and Farn 2005), industry sector (Mishra, Akman and Yazici, 2007), organisation culture (Lending and Slaughter 1999) and national culture and legal factors (Al-Jabri and Abdul Gader, 1997;Husted, 2000;Robertson, Gilley, Crittenden and Crittenden, 2008).…”

Section: Software Piracymentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Thatcher

Matthews

2014

AJOBE

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This study examines cross-national differences in relation to software piracy between a Zambian and a South Africa student sample on components of Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory. 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 higher amongst student groups. The questionnaire was composed of previously developed scales measuring attitudes, social norms, intentions, incentives, deterrents, self-efficacy, and moral disengagement within the context of software piracy. The sample was gathered from one University in Zambia (N = 69) and one in South Africa (N = 71) in the students' final and penultimate years of study. Statistical differences were found between the two samples on the attitudes and social norms scales, with the South African sample having more positive attitudes and more favourable social norms towards software piracy than the Zambian sample. In terms of the theoretical model, attitudes, social norms and self-efficacy predicted software piracy intentions in both samples.

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The Effect of Interpersonal Influence on Softlifting Intention and Behaviour

Cited by 46 publications

References 33 publications

Compliant Sinners, Obstinate Saints: How Power and Self-Focus Determine the Effectiveness of Social Influences in Ethical Decision Making

Compliant Sinners, Obstinate Saints: How Power and Self-Focus Determine the Effectiveness of Social Influences in Ethical Decision Making

Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for Non-pirated Software

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

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