Costs and Utilities Perspective of Consumers' Intentions to Engage in Online Music Sharing: Consumers' Knowledge Matters

Abstract

Online music sharing, deemed illegal for invading intellectual property rights under current laws, has become a crucial issue for the music industry in the modern digital age, but few have investigated the potential costs and utilities for individuals involved in such online misbehavior. This study aimed to fill in this gap to predict consumers' intentions to engage in online music sharing and further consider consumers' online music sharing knowledge as a moderator in the research model. The results of repeated measures analysis of variance of costs and utilities of online music sharing not only give more detailed information to grasp empirical implications but also provide some suggestions to the music industry in Taiwan.

Keywords:

• costs and utilities
• intellectual property rights (IPR)
• knowledge
• online music sharing intentions