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Journal of Education for Business
ISSN: 0883-2323 (Print) 1940-3356 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vjeb20
Cross-National Attitudes and Perceptions
Concerning Software Piracy: A Comparative Study
of Students From the United States and China
David R. Rawlinson & Robert A. Lupton
To cite this article: David R. Rawlinson & Robert A. Lupton (2007) Cross-National Attitudes and Perceptions Concerning Software Piracy: A Comparative Study of Students From the United States and China, Journal of Education for Business, 83:2, 87-94, DOI: 10.3200/JOEB.83.2.87-94 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.3200/JOEB.83.2.87-94
Published online: 07 Aug 2010.
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tudents’attitudesandperceptions regarding the use of unlicensed softwareareimportanttoeducatorsand businesses.Theglobalmediaisreplete withstatisticsontheamountofmoney thatislostduetosoftwarepiracy,espe-ciallyinthePeople’sRepublicofChina. Information technology (IT) and soft-ware development firms are reticent to investincountrieswherethereisalarge amount of software piracy. Software vendorsareusingdigitalrightsmanage-mentmechanismstocontrolintellectual property theft at the expense of con-sumer privacy. In response to the ease with which digitized data are stolen, legislatorsaremodifyingthelawsunder which intellectual property is licensed. Students have a proven propensity to pirate software and other intellec-tual property (Kini, Ramakhrishna, & Vijayaraman, 2004; Kruger, 2003). Do American students hold different atti-tudes and perceptions toward software piracyincomparisonwithstudentsfrom other nations? What do students con-strue as software piracy, and are there significantdifferencescross-nationally? HowoftendoChinesestudentsengage in software piracy in comparison with American students? Who do students hold responsible for controlling soft-warepiracy,anddothesebeliefsdiffer amongAmericanandChinesestudents? Are licensing models for intellectual property protection, which Western
democracies primarily have designed, still appropriate in the digital age, and do they have equivalent application in across-nationalcontext?Istherearela- tionshipbetweenattitudestowardcheat-ing on exams and software piracy, and are there significant differences cross-nationallyamongstudents?Inmorethan 200studies,researchershaveaddressed ethicsandacademicdishonestyinedu-cation. Our past research focused on comparing attitudes and perceptions of AmericanandSlovakstudentsconcern-ingsoftwarepiracyandcheating.Inthis study, we examined and compared the attitudes and perceptions toward soft-ware piracy of American and Chinese university students. In this article, we review the limited research on IT and ethics;presentthemethodology;report the findings based on empirical data frommorethan500surveyrespondents; andconcludewithadditionalquestions forfuturestudy.
ReviewofLiteratureonSoftware Piracy
The Business Software Alliance’s (BSA’s; 2006) Global Software Piracy Study Report found that 35% of soft-ware installed on personal computers worldwide was pirated in 2005, with estimated losses at $34 billion. The British Broadcasting Company (BBC) reported that 23% of the software that
Cross-NationalAttitudesandPerceptions
ConcerningSoftwarePiracy:
AComparativeStudyofStudentsFrom
theUnitedStatesandChina
DAVIDR.RAWLINSON ROBERTA.LUPTON
CENTRALWASHINGTONUNIVERSITY ELLENSBURG,WASHINGTON
S
ABSTRACT. Students’attitudesand perceptionsregardingtheuseofunlicensed softwareareimportanttoeducatorsand businesses.Studentshaveaprovenpropen-sitytopiratesoftwareandotherintellectual property.Byunderstandinghowattitudes andperceptionstowardsoftwarepiracy differamonguniversitystudentsinacross-nationalcontext,educatorsandbusiness leaderswillbebetteratcommunicating acceptableusagepolicestoprotectvaluable intellectualpropertyinaglobalinformation technologyenvironment.
Keywords:China,cross-national,unlicensed softwarepiracy
Copyright©2007HeldrefPublications
peoplehaveusedinNorthAmericawas pirated (“Software Piracy,” 2004). In contrast, the International Intellectual Property Alliance (2003) reported that China’spiracyratesacrossallcopyright industriesarehigherthan90%.
Chinais1of12U.S.tradingpartners onthe2007prioritywatchlist,alistof countriespublishedbytheU.S.Depart-ment of State with unacceptably high infringementlevels(U.S.Departmentof State,BureauofInternationalInforma-tion Programs, 2007). Of the countries on the priority list, the United States TradeRepresentative(USTR)gavesig- nificantattentiontoChina(U.S.Depart-ment of State, Bureau of International InformationPrograms).
The result was the release of the conclusions of the USTR’s 2005 out-of-cycle review of China’s Intellectual Property Regulatory (IPR) practices (U.S. Department of State, Bureau of International Information Programs, 2007).EventhoughChinawasremoved from the watch list entirely in 2006, Chinamaintainsimmenselyhighpiracy rates (International Intellectual Prop-ertyAlliance, 2006). The International Intellectual Property Alliance (2003) estimated the piracy losses in China at $1.85 billion in 2002. BSA estimated that92%ofsoftwarethatpeopleusedin Chinaduring2003wasunlicensedand therefore illegal (Rohde, 2004). Cur-rent losses of all forms of intellectual property are estimated at $2.3 billion (InternationalIntellectualPropertyAlli-ance, 2006). When countries have no incentivetocontroltheftofintellectual property,softwarepiracyonthelevelof China’sistheresult(Sills,2005).
Without appropriate internal con-trols, companies are reticent to invest research and development dollars in countries with weak intellectual prop-ertyprotection(EconomistsIntelligence Unit,2004,ascitedinZhao,2006).This perceptionofweakintellectualproperty protections may harm a country’s eco-nomic development. Researchers have foundthatsoftwarepiracyassistsinthe rapid diffusion of information technol-ogy and therefore levels the playing fieldinfavorofdevelopingeconomies. Researchers have also found that soft-ware piracy inhibits the diffusion of informationtechnologyinthelongterm
Researchers have shown that soft- warepiracyinhibitsorcompletelypre-vents local software developers from beingcreditedandpaidforthedevelop-ment of their product.A report by the Software&InformationIndustryAsso-ciation(2000)foundthat“whenforeign nationalsdevelopabreakthroughprod-uct, counterfeiters attack them just as swiftlyandseverelyastheydoAmeri-ing in classrooms (Kruger, 2003). Kini etal.(2004)consideredsoftlifting ,ille-galcopyingofsoftwareforpersonaluse, even more prevalent in university envi-ronments than the general population. A BSA (2006) report stated that more than half of college and university stu-dentsintheUnitedStatesthoughtitwas acceptable behavior in the workplace to swap or download digital copyright-ed files (software, music, and movies) without paying for them. However, our review of the literature failed to reveal thistypeofstudyregardingtheattitudes and perceptions of Chinese university students.Researchershavetalkedabout how academics’ attitudes about the use ofunlicensedsoftwareappeartojustify violatingintellectualpropertyrights.
AsurveythattheBSA(2006)spon-sored indicated that 52% of student respondents and 25% of academics believed that the use of pirated soft- warewasacceptable,eveninthework-place. It has been difficult to deter-mine why there is so much software piracy.Numeroustheoreticalconstructs concern motivation for stealing soft-ware,includingsocialfactors,perceived consequences or beliefs, habits, affect, facilitating conditions, and individual intention (Limayem, Khalifa, & Chin, 2004). Even the argument that gross domestic product is inversely related tolevelsofsoftwarepiracy(thosewho cannotpayforsoftwarestealit)seems
tobelesssignificantthanitwasinthe past(Gopal&Sanders,1997,andShin, Gopal, & Sanders, 2004, as cited in Bagchi,Kirs,&Cerveny,2006).
Lackofastrongmoralintensitymay betheculprit.Kinietal.(2004)asserted that moral intensity regarding software piracyisrelatedtotheextentofsoftware piracy. Therefore, an understanding of the development of moral intensity regardingsoftwarepiracyinindividuals wouldaidbusinessesindevelopingand implementing policies that may help themtoreducesoftwarepiracy(Kiniet al.),possiblyproducinguniversitygrad- uateswhoarelessinclinedtouseunli-censedsoftware.Limayemetal.(2004) suggestedthattheindividual’sintention to use pirated software is not a causal linktotheactualactofpiratingsoftware andthatresearchersshouldrefrainfrom generalizingthatthepiratingstudentof todayisthepiratingbusinessworkerof tomorrow.However,theBSAappearsto believe this generalization on the basis ofitsactivitiesdealingwithstudentsat thecollegelevel.
TheBSA(2006)isactiveindiscuss-ing the issue of unlicensed software in schools to educate students while they are forming their opinions and behav-iors. Ethics regarding software owner- shipisanissueforbusinesses,especial-lyregardingnewhireswhohavecome straight from college. “An employer whohiresanemployeewhohasrecent-ly been on campus and downloading software,music,ormovieswithimpu-nity needs to be aware of the climate that new hire is coming from,” states Jenny Blank, director of enforcement fortheBSA(2006).Studentsappearto sustain the climate of software piracy afterleavingcampus.
Even more distressing is the role of university students as they graduate and work in industry. The costs associated withunethicaluseofsoftwarealone(fines andthereputationoffirmandemployee) can be high. “Engineering firms are the thirdmostfrequentlyfinedbusinessesfor softwarelicenseviolations—rightbehind manufacturingandhealthcare”(Mealey, 1999, p. 42). Most university students probablydonothavemuchdiscretionary incomewithwhichtopurchasesoftware, and Kirkman, Osorio, and Sachs (2002) showed software piracy to be related to
lowincome(i.e.,thecostofbuyingsoft-ware vs. that of copying it in a limited financial environment). Software users haveusedthisargumentasajustification for breaking intellectual property laws (Prochorenko, 2006). However, govern-mentsandindustryareimplementingnew legal and technology-based controls on intellectualpropertypiracy.
ManycompaniesintheUnitedStates are implementing solutions under the umbrellaoftheDigitalRightsManage-mentAct of 2003, including the instal-lation of a root kit, software installed without the user’s consent that controls copying behavior, but also reports to a third party information about the user’s activities (Electronic Frontier Founda- tion,2006).Lawsuitsbypublicandpri-vateorganizationsforcedSonyBMG,the organizationresponsibleforthisactivity, toagreetocompletelyremovethesoft-ware, to not include it on future music CDs, and to provide a cash or replace-mentCDcredittoconsumers(Electronic Frontier Foundation). Microsoft Corpo-ration and other entities, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, have labeledthistypeofsoftwareasspyware, meaningthatitviolatesauser’sreason-able expectation of privacy and thus is an undesirable resident of a personal computer’sharddrive.Spywarewasone company’swayofcontrollinghowintel-lectualpropertywasused.However,the model for intellectual property protec-tionismorphingdaily.
Thebasisforlawsunderwhichintel-lectual property is licensed is being manipulatedaswell.TheCreativeCom-mons(2007)isanonprofitorganization that offers flexible copyright licensing for creative works such as music. The termflexiblecopyrightlicensingmeans modifying the concept of “all rights reserved” (Creative Commons, para. 2) from traditional copyright laws to offer a voluntary, some-rights-reserved approach. This approach makes it eas-ier for individuals to share intellectual property, such as music and other cre-ative works, without paying a royalty fee (Creative Commons). In addition, software developers disseminate soft-ware that is freely sharable through the Open Source Initiative, a nonprofit organization whose aim is to manage andpromotethegoaloftheopensource
“for the good of the community” by using a certification process for soft-ware (Open Source Initiative, 2006). The Free Software Foundation (2007) is another organization that promotes user’srightstouse,study,copy,modi-fy, and redistribute computer programs undertheGNUGeneralPublicLicense. Software developers use these mecha- nismstoadaptintellectualpropertypro-tectionmechanismstothedigitalage.
We aimed this research at determin-ing university students’ perceptions of and attitudes on the use of unlicensed softwareinacross-nationalcontext.The review of the existing literature makes itclearthatbillionsofdollarsarebeing lostbecauseofsoftwarepiracyandthat companies and governments are trying to control the use of intellectual prop-erty by using new legal and technical methods, including modifying the tra-ditional model of intellectual property protections. Researchers have indicated thatstudentshaveapropensityforusing software and other intellectual property withoutpayingforit.However,research-ershaveconductedlittleresearchonhow attitudesandperceptionstowardsoftware piracydifferamongstudentpopulations cross-nationally. To our knowledge, the present research is the first to compare statisticallysignificantdifferencesinatti-tudes and perceptions toward software piracy among American and Chinese university students. The answers may aidunderstandingofhowtodecreasethe the campus of an agricultural univer-sityinChinaandamedium-sizedstate universityintheWesternUnitedStates byadministeringquestionnaires.Given thesensitivenatureofthequestions,we repeatedly told respondents, orally and inwriting,thattheirresponseswouldbe anonymousandconfidential.Weasked them to answer as many questions as possible, as long as they felt comfort-able with the particular question. The usablesurveysthatwecollectedtotaled 569, with 60.3% of the surveys being fromstudentsinChina.Thepercentage
ofmalestudentswas45.2%,and93.9% oftherespondentswerebetween18and 25yearsofage.Wederivedthesurvey questions from a previous model deal-ing with academic cheatdeal-ing that Chap-manandLupton(2002)developed.
SurveyInstrument
To evaluate the attitudes, percep-tions,andtendenciestowardethicaland unethicalusageofIT-relatedissues(i.e., software,music,andvideopiracy),we developeda33-questionsurveyinstru-ment consisting of a series of dichoto- mous(yes–no)questionsorscalarques-tions,andaquestionthataskedstudents toassesswhatpercentageoftheirpeers theybelieveengagedinsoftwarepiracy. Before administering the survey to the Chinesestudents,wetranslateditfrom English and then back-translated it to checkforaccuracy.
Mostoftheyes–noquestionsspecifi-callyaskedthestudentsaboutunethical ITbehaviors(e.g.,“Haveyoueverseen someoneuseunlicensedsoftwareatthis university?”). We also asked students to respond to a series of statements by using a 7-point Likert-type scale rangingfrom1(stronglydisagree)to7 (stronglyagree).Thesescalarquestions measured attitudes and beliefs about ITethics(e.g.,“Usingunlicensedsoft-ware in a school course is not really that bad”; “Using unlicensed software athomeisnotreallythatbad”).Wealso gave students two scenarios to deter-minewhetheranunethicalsituationhad occurred. Each scenario was deliber-atelyvaguesothatthestudentcouldnot easilyconcludewhetheraviolationhad occurred. Students used their personal interpretationstodecidewhetheravio-regarding their self-reported estimate onthepercentageofstudentsthatused pirated (unlicensed) software, on their knowledgeofseeingorknowingsome-one who has used unlicensed software inclassorattheuniversity,andontheir
beliefs about what constitutes illegal use of software.The use of unlicensed softwaremaybepervasiveatAmerican and Chinese universities in that most students indicated personal knowledge regardingtheuseofpiratedsoftware.
AsTable1shows,10questionsresult-ed in statistically significant values. Thisissignificantinlightoftheefforts by government and industry to control the use of unlicensed software. From a research perspective, it is interesting to discover students’ perceptions of what constitutesillegalusageofsoftwareand who is responsible for controlling the unlicensed use of software by students. Toaddressthesequestions,weaskedstu- dentstorespondtosurveyitemsregard-ing their perception of the percentage ofstudentuseofpiratedsoftware,what typesofbehaviorconstitutecheating,the roleplayedbythenetworkadministrator
incontrollingunlicensedsoftwareusage, andwhatconstitutelegalandillegaluse ofsoftware.
AsTable2shows,8questionsprompt-ed answers that were statistically sig-nificant.Theonequalitativeresultfrom Table 2 that we will discuss was the percentage that students reported when we asked them to “Please estimate the percentage of students you believe use pirated(unlicensed)software.”Themean valueforChinesestudentswas70.90%. The mean value for American students was12.97%.
The data seemed to indicate that a permissive use of unlicensed software affects a student’s moral and ethical positionregardingsuchunlicenseduse. Even students who are capable of the most principled moral reasoning may engage in software-copying behavior (Kinietal.,2004).Ourresearchseemed
to confirm that finding in the cross-nationalcontext.
Findings
Itseemsevidentthattheuseofunli- censedsoftwareinauniversityiscom-monplaceandthatstudentsperceivethe useofunlicensedsoftwareasacontinu-allyrecurringevent.Whenweaskedthe question, “Have you known someone thathasusedunlicensedsoftwareatthis university?” the contrast between Chi-nese and U.S. students who answered intheaffirmativewassignificant(U.S. participants, 35.7%; Chinese partici-pants,64.3%;p<.0001).
It appears that Chinese students use pirated software in greater numbers than do their American counterparts. The media and literature have widely reportedthatChinesecitizenshaveeasy
TABLE1.PercentageofAmericanandChineseUniversityStudentsRespondingYestoQuestionsAboutSoftware Piracy(N=569)
%respondingyes
Americanstudents Chinesestudents
Question χ2 df N p χ2 df N p
Haveyouknownsomeonewhousedunlicensedsoftware
atthisuniversity? 35.7 1 166 .0001 64.3 1 299 .0001
Haveyouknownsomeonewhousedunlicensedsoftware
inclass? 24.7 2 82 .0001 75.3 2 250 .0001
Haveyouseensomeonewhousedunlicensedsoftwareat
thisuniversity? 30.4 1 104 .0001 69.6 1 238 .0001
Haveyouseensomeonewhousedunlicensedsoftwarein
thisclass? 21.0 2 39 .0001 79.0 2 147 .0001
Haveyoucheatedonanexamorassignmentduringyour
collegecareer? 22.2 2 44 .0001 77.8 2 154 .0001
Haveyoucheatedonanexamorassignmentinthisclass? 18.4 2 14 .0001 81.6 2 62 .0001 DoyoubelieveJohnhascheatedbygivinghisprior
courseworktoJane,whousedJohn’sanswerstoprepare
fortests? 44.4 2 72 .244 55.6 2 90 .244
DoyoubelieveJanehascheatedbyusingJohn’sprior
courseworkandanswerstopreparefortests? 40.7 3 110 .658 59.3 3 160 .658 DoyoubelievethatJanehascheatedbyusingJohn’s
programmingcodeinsteadofcreatingherowninthelab? 42.7 1 203 .0001 57.3 1 272 .0001 Haveyoueverusedsomeone’sprogrammingcodefroma
previousexamasastudyguideforacurrentexam? 35.3 2 18 .0001 64.7 2 33 .0001 Foranexaminthisclass,haveyouusedsomeone’s
programmingcodefromapreviousexamasastudyguide
forthecurrentexam? 3.6 2 1 .0001 96.4 2 27 .0001
Aftertakinganexam,haveyouevergivenastudentina
latersectioninformationabouttheexam? 46.7 2 85 .06 53.3 2 97 .06
Haveyoureadtheschool’sacceptableusepolicy? 53.8 2 63 .0001 46.2 2 54 .0001 Doyouthinkwritingavirusfortestingnetworksecurity
isokay? 36.9 2 59 .182 63.1 2 101 .182
Doyouthinkhackingintoacomputernetworkfortesting
networksecurityisokay? 33.7 2 55 .071 66.3 2 108 .071
and inexpensive access to counterfeit software. It is possible that American studentsaremoresensitiveaboutreport-ingthistypeofinformationbecauseof legalpenaltiesifprosecuted.
The data regarding students who answeredyestothequestion“Haveyou knownsomeonethathasusedunlicensed software in this class?” further confirm the previous question’s results, with a significantly larger percentage of affir-mative reporting from Chinese students thanfromAmericanstudents(U.S.M= 24.7,ChineseM=75.3;p<.0001).
The question “Have you ever seen someone use unlicensed software at thisuniversity?”generatedanothersig-nificant distinction betweenAmerican and Chinese students who answered “yes.”Among the respondents, 69.6% wereChineseand30.4%wereAmeri-can(p<.0001).Thisfindingconfirms resultsfromthepreviousquestionand resultsinourreviewofliteratureonthe levelsofsoftwarepiracyinChina.
Whenweasked,“Haveyoueverseen someoneuseunlicensedsoftwareinthis class?”ofthosestudentsthatanswered intheaffirmative,21%wereAmerican, and 79% were Chinese (p < .0001). Theseresultsareconsistentwithresults fromthepreviousquestionsandfurther
confirmgreatersoftwarepiracyamong universitystudentsinChinathaninthe UnitedStates.
More American students than Chi-nese students stated that they had read their school’s acceptable usage policy (AUP; U.S. participants, 53.8%; Chi-nese participants, 46.2%;p < .0001). Although this finding was statistically significantbetweenAmericanandChi-nese responses, anecdotal information hasshownthatdocumentsonAUPmay notexistineveryorganization,regard-lessofwhetherintheUnitedStatesor China. Therefore, the significance of theseresultsisunclear.
PerceptionsandAttitudesToward Cheating
Although the purpose of this study concerns attitudes about and percep-tions of software piracy, we also gath-ered interesting data on students’ atti-tudesaboutandperceptionsofcheating. Generally, Chinese students reported a significantlyhigherpercentageofcheat-ing on exams and a somewhat higher percentageonwhattypeofactivitycon-stitutes cheating. Most interesting are the results to the item “People who cheat on an exam will also cheat to
advance their career” (U.S.M = 1.53, ChineseM=4.90;p<.0001).Chinese studentsappearedtobelievethatthereis littledistinctionbetweencheatingatthe universityandcheatingaftergraduation, onthebasisoftheresponsetothisques- tion.Also,wefoundthatAmericanstu-dentsreportedcomparativelylowlevels ofcheatingduringtheircollegecareers butappearedtobelievethatcheatingon an exam is different from cheating to advancetheircareer,onthebasisofthe response to this question. Researchers may speculate that American students viewed their college activities in this area as not being real-world (i.e., sub-ject to legal penalties) in comparison totheiractivityonceoutofcollegeand working in industry. According to the literature, employers should be aware that some university graduates may haveadifferentsetofvaluesregarding theuseofunlicensedsoftwareandmay place employers in financial or legal jeopardy on the basis of those percep-tionsandattitudes.
Moreover,theChinesestudentsappear tohavetheoppositeopinion,thatcheat-ingonanexamisanindicatoroffuture cheatingtoadvanceatwork.Differences in cultural values, educational systems, lackofmoralintensity(Kinietal.,2004),
TABLE2.AmericanandChineseUniversityStudents’BeliefsAboutSoftwarePiracy(N=569)
Americanstudents Chinesestudents
Belief t df p t df p
Percentageofstudentsyoubelieveusepiratedsoftware 12.97 539 .0001 70.90 539 .0001 Instructordiscussionofunlicensedsoftwarereducesamountof
unlicenseduseinclass. 3.59 561 .0001 4.59 561 .0001
Usingunlicensedsoftwareinclassisnotthatbad. 3.70 560 .153 4.11 560 .153 Tellingsomeoneinalatersectionaboutprogrammingcodeonan
examisokay. 3.06 561 .03 3.38 561 .03
Usingunlicensedsoftwareathomeisnotbad. 4.22 562 .302 4.05 562 .302
Usingcodefromapriorsemestertoprepareforacurrentexamis
notcheating. 3.60 562 .947 3.59 562 .947
Moststudentsuseunlicensedsoftware. 4.66 561 .0001 5.27 561 .0001
Moststudentsdownloadmusicandvideowithoutpaying. 5.93 559 .835 5.90 559 .835 Itistheresponsibilityoftheinstructortopreventstudentsfrom
usingunlicensedsoftware. 2.54 560 .0001 3.42 560 .0001
Itistheresponsibilityofthenetworkadministratortoprevent
studentsfromusingunlicensedsoftware. 3.21 562 .0001 3.92 562 .0001
Itistheresponsibilityofthesoftwarevendortopreventstudents
fromusingunlicensedsoftware. 3.71 559 .0001 4.31 559 .0001
Itisokaytouseunlicensedsoftwareifitisonlyforafewdays. 3.87 562 .660 4.00 562 .660 Itisokaytogiverelativesorfriendsunlicensedsoftwareifthey
donotgiveittoothers. 3.91 562 .002 3.41 562 .002
Peoplewhocheatonexamswillalsocheattoadvancetheircareers. 1.53 562 .0001 4.90 562 .0001
or other socioeconomic factors could explaintheseresults.
Couldperceptionsandattitudesabout cheating on exams correlate with the useofunlicensedsoftware,musicfiles, andvideofilesaswell?Futureresearch-ersshouldconductmoreresearchinthis areatocorrelateattitudesaboutandper-ceptionsofcheatingandsoftwarepiracy (Limayem et al., 2004). However, the BSA (2006) appears to have reached the conclusion that university students areoneofthevehiclesgivingsoftware piracyitsmomentum,especiallyinlight oftheBSA’sprogramtovisitwithuni-versity students and discuss the ethics andlegalitiesofsoftwarepiracy.
WhomDoStudentsHoldResponsible forSoftwarePiracyActivities?
Thestatement“Havingtheinstructor discuss the problems, ethicality, and penalties related to unlicensed soft-warereducestheamountofunlicensed usage that will occur in a class” pro-duced statistical differences between U.S. and Chinese students (U.S.M = 3.59, ChineseM = 4.59;p < .0001). Chinesestudentsappeartoattachmore authority or control to the instructor than do American students. Also, it may be unusual for an instructor to talkaboutsoftwarepiracyasanethical issue in China, and that unusualness mayaccountforthelargermeanvalue fromChinesestudents.
Onaverage,whenrespondingtothe item “I believe that most students use unlicensedsoftware,”Chinesestudents reportedhighervaluesthandidAmeri-can students (ChineseM = 5.27, U.S. M = 4.66;p < .0001). Again, this is consistent with the literature on the amount of software piracy in China. Although Limayem et al. (2004) indi-cated that intention to pirate software does not necessarily correlate with actual software-pirating behavior, the totalityofdatafromtheliteratureand this research tends toward confirming thatbias.
Threesurveyquestionsaskedthestu-dent to agree or disagree with a state- mentregardingtheentitythatisrespon-sibleforpreventingstudentsfromusing unlicensedsoftware:theinstructor(U.S. M=2.54,ChineseM=3.42;p<.0001),
network administrator (U.S.M = 3.21, ChineseM=3.92;p <.0001),thesoft-ware vendor (U.S.M = 3.71, Chinese M = 4.31;p < .0001).All 3 questions receivedsimilarresponses,butChinese students’ response to the statement “It istheresponsibilityoftheinstructorin the class to make sure students do not useunlicensedsoftware”seemstoindi-cate that Chinese students attach more significancetotheinstructor’sabilityto controltheuseofpiratedsoftwarethan do American students. Both student groups may believe that there are cir-cumstancesinwhichtheuseofpirated software by students is justified, espe- ciallyiftheinstructor,networkadmin-istrator, or software vendor does not control unlicensed software usage. It seemsevidentthatstudentsareamajor vehicle in the proliferation of software piracyandthatsoftwarevendorsaretry-ingtocontrolit(BSA,2006).
AmericanandChinesestudentstend-edtoagreewiththestatement“It’sokay to give a relative or friend unlicensed softwareiftheydon’tgiveittosomeone else”(U.S.M=3.91,ChineseM=3.41; p <.002).Thisisaninterestingcompar-ison,anditispossibleforresearchersto drawseveralconclusionsfromthisdata. Theobviousconclusionisthatstudents may feel that relatives or friends will keep this type of activity confidential becauseitbenefitstherecipientandthat therefore the infringing students will not suffer any legal consequences. As aresult,studentsmaybelievethatthere is a small chance that they will suffer adverseconsequences.Inaddition,stu- dentsmaybeignorantoflegalramifica-tions for this type of activity. In either case, there is the suggestion that this typeofbehaviorisviewedasjustifiable dependingonthecircumstances.Eining andChristensen(1991;ascitedinKini etal.,2004)pointedoutthatcomputer attitudes, material consequences, and normscontributedtowardexplainingthe variation in software piracy. However, theyacknowledgedthatsocial-legalatti-tudewasnotafactorandexplainedthat the variation in the levels of software piracybetweenstudentsandthegeneral populationmaybetheresultofstudent respondents’ lack of understanding of legalaspectsofsoftwarepiracy(Eining sanctions (such as the lawsuits filed bytheRecordingIndustryAuthorsand Artists organization against individuals accusingthemofillegallysharingmusic orvideofiles).PastresearchfromEin-ing and Christensen (1991, as cited in Kinietal.)andKinietal.substantiated thisconclusion.
DISCUSSION
This research provides comparative dataabouttheattitudestowardandper-ceptions of the use of unlicensed soft-ware among American and Chinese universitystudents.Onesignificantdif-ferenceisthatChinesestudentsperceive significantly higher levels of software piracythandoAmericanstudents.This responseseemstoconfirmprivateglob-al studies on software piracy in China in comparison with the United States. Another attitudinal distinction is that Chinese students appear to regard uni-versityinstructorsashavingmorepower, persuasion, or control over the use of unlicensed software in the classroom thandoAmericanstudents.Thesignifi-cance of this result may be because of cultural,socioeconomic,orotherdiffer-ences between American and Chinese students. Both American and Chinese studentstendtoviewthelegalityofpro-viding unlicensed software to others as anissueoffactualcontext:Itdependson the circumstances. Our questions about cheatingindicatedthatChinesestudents make little distinction between cheat-ing at the university and cheatcheat-ing in a careerincomparisonwiththeAmerican students. The American students make a distinction between cheating at the university(notreal-world)andcheating togetaheadintheircareer.
Educatorsshouldcontinuetoinform students about the legal and ethical issues regarding the use of unlicensed software. If educators are to contin-ue the model of intellectual property licensingthatsaysthatthecreationof intellectual property has value to the authorandshouldbepreservedforthe author’seconomicbenefit,theneduca-tors should also continue to discuss
new models of intellectual property licensing to account for cultural and socioeconomic differences in a cross-national context. Finally, educators need to conduct research on whether students’ attitudes toward the use of unlicensedsoftwarehaveacausallink totheactualuseofpiratedsoftware.
NOTES
Dr. David R. Rawlinson’s research interests are application of information technology to the independentmusicindustryandtheimplementa-tion of service-learning concepts in computer networking and computer security curriculum. Heteachescoursesincomputernetworking,com-putersecurity,anddataprivacyandethics.
Dr.RobertA.Lupton’sresearchinterestsare retailmanagementtechnology,internationalretail management, retail e-commerce, digital retail-ing, digital downloading in the music and soft-wareindustries,andinformationtechnologyretail infrastructure.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Dr. David R. Rawlinson, Asso-ciate Professor, Information Technology and AdministrativeManagementDepartment,Central WashingtonUniversity,400EastUniversityWay, Ellensburg,WA98926.
E-mail:david.rawlinson@cwu.edu
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Managing Editor Journal of Education for Business
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Journal of Education for Business is introducing Professional
Perspectives—a new section—beginning with the 2006 volume
year. Professional Perspectives aims to supplement JEB objectives by providing practitioners’ perspectives on current issues in the business fi eld. Changes in today’s business world and in the business professions fundamentally infl uence the competencies that business graduates need. Thus, JEB offers a forum for authors addressing those areas or proposing new theories and analyses of controversial issues. The section will address current issues facing the business community today such as diversity, discrimination, marketing strategies, ethics in leadership, accounting restraints, globalization, outsourcing, downsizing, and recruiting.
Submissions for Professional Perspectives should include: an overview of the issue being addressed; historical perspectives on the issue; current workplace examples of the issue; potential outcomes in terms of impacts on personnel, costs, legal matters, and other parameters; impact of proposed business models on creativity and innovation; how the proposed model relates to trends in industry or business in general; and recommendations to business faculty as to what they may do to assist in resolving the issue. The submission must be between 1500 to 2500 words.
If you are interested in submitting to Professional Perspectives, please visit http://mc.manuscriptcentral .com/heldref/jebs. Please refer to the instructions to authors on the login page or at http://www .heldref.org/jebmanu.php for further information.
