Research in progress
Diane Lending, Sandra A. Slaughter · 2001
Software piracy, the unauthorized copying of computer software, is widespread in many organizations today. From the perspective of managers in organizations, software piracy means the threat of costly litigation on the one hand, balanced against the reduced expense for additional software if unauthorized copies are used. It should be possible to exercise more effective control over software piracy with a more complete understanding of the factors that lead to the decision to copy software. The goal of this study is to assess the direct and moderating effects of the organization's ethical climate on a variety of attitudes and behaviors regarding software piracy. Prior research on software piracy has tended to focus on individual factors that influence piracy. This study is part of a multi-year, multi-university study of software piracy. Results from our prior studies suggest that while individual factors such as age and gender influence piracy attitudes and behaviors, these effects appear to be overshadowed by organization effects. In this study, we measure organization ethical climate as perceived by students in three universities and their attitudes and behaviors towards software piracy. The measures of ethical climate used in the literature have been modified to fit the university setting.