Title: Software piracy and spending across different economic groups

Authors: Yun Chu, Jianyu Ma

Addresses: Department of Marketing, School of Business, Robert Morris University, 6001 University Boulevard, Moon Township, PA 15108, USA. ' Department of Finance and Economics, School of Business, Robert Morris University, 6001 University Boulevard, Moon Township, PA 15108, USA

Abstract: This study investigates the extent of relationships between the cultural and economic development levels in a given country and software piracy and spending rates by using the structural equation modelling technique. When analysing both developing and developed markets together, we find that the cultural differences (degree of individualism, |IDV|) and the level of gross national income significantly impact the rate of software piracy, thereby creating a correlative relationship between those two factors and software-spending. However, when the software markets are classified into developed versus developing markets, the findings differ.

Keywords: developed markets; developing markets; hardware systems; information technology; software piracy; software spending; software systems; cultural development; economic development; spending rates; structural equation modelling; cultural differences; gross national income.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBSR.2009.023508

International Journal of Business and Systems Research, 2009 Vol.3 No.1, pp.78 - 92

Published online: 25 Feb 2009 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article