An Empirical Study of Software Piracy and Moral Intensity among University Students

Abstract

Software piracy, an unethical and illegal behavior, is pervading today's society. In a few recent studies, some scholars have argued that to decrease software piracy, it is more important to raise the level of moral intensity regarding software piracy than establishing a reward - punishment structure for following institutional compliance. In this study, authors developed a survey questionnaire and administered to about 800 undergraduate and graduate business students from two Midwestern state universities, to study the relationship between the level of moral intensity and eleven demographic variables. The results obtained were mixed. The most interesting results that were obtained are that moral intensity of software piracy is not affected by the use of computer, experience with computers or task orientation. The propensity toward moral intensity is affected by general demographic variables.