This report presents the outcomes of the first extensive research on software piracy in Hong Kong making use of the grounded theory approach. Qualitative data were utilised to create hypotheses, that had been then evaluated employing survey methodology. The outcomes have significant implications for controlling a multi-million dollar problem in “Asia’s World City”. The costs of software piracy are enormous. In 2001, it had been approximated that the software industry lost $10.97 billion because of software piracy (BSA, 2002). Software developers pass this loss on to the users of original software. Software piracy has been looked into from various disciplinary perspectives, such as the legal perspective, (Swinyard, Rinne, Kau, 1990; Im & Van Epps, 1992; Robinson & Reithel, 1994), the decision-making perspective (Taylor and Shim, 1993; Simpson, Banerjee, & Simpson Jr, 1994; Sims, Cheng, & Teegen, 1996; Banerjee, Cronan & Jones, 1998; Thong & Yap, 1998; Wager & Sanders, 2001) and the moral perspective (Lee. Eining & Long, 1994; Logsdon, Thompson, Reid, 1994; Kini, Rominger & Vijayaraman, 2000)…
Contents
Chapter One: Introduction
The Problem of Software Piracy
Objectives of the Study
Justification of the Study
Limitations of the Study
Process of the Study
Outline of the Study
Chapter Two: Previous Empirical Studies on Software Piracy
Introduction
Legal Perspective
Moral and Ethical Perspectives
Situational Perspective
Summary of Previous Studies
Chapter Three: Qualitative Data
Introduction
Grounded Theory Approach
Internet Online Survey
A Content Analysis of “hk.comp.hacker”
Major Findings and Interpretations
Social Acceptance of Software Piracy
The Cost of Original Software
Urgency of Need for Computer Software
The Availability of Original Software
Knowledge of Computer Software Copyright Law
Formulating a Grounded Theory for Software Piracy
Concluding Remarks
Chapter Four: Development and Pilot Testing of Survey Instrument
Introduction
The Survey Instrument
Pilot Test
Chapter Summary
Chapter Five: The Research Sample, Construct Reliabilities, and Bivariate Correlations
Introduction
Profile of Research Sample
Reliability of the Constructs
Factor Analysis of Independent Variables
Descriptive Statistics
Correlation Analysis
Chapter Summary
Chapter Six: Multivariate Regression Results and Major Findings
Introduction
Regression Results
Interaction Tests
Gender Effect on the Reported Leniency towards Software Piracy
Chapter Summary
Chapter Seven: Implications, Suggestions and Future Research
Introduction
Discussion of Results
Contributions of the Study…
Software Piracy in Hong Kong Downloads
Source: City University of Hong Kong