Lu (2009)

Source Details

Lu (2009)
Title:	Chinese culture and software copyright
Author(s):	Lu, J.
Year:	2009
Citation:	Lu, J. (2009). Chinese culture and software copyright. New media & society, 11(8), 1372-1393.
Link(s):	Definitive
Key Related Studies:	Wang et al. (2005a) Yu (2001) Marron and Steel (2000) Husted (2000) Mum (2003)
Discipline:	L86: Information and Internet Services • Computer Software
Linked by:

About the Data
Data Description:	The survey was conducted on college students at a university in Beijing, China in June 2007. A total of 196 questionnaires were distributed to undergraduate students in four classes in two departments of the university, collected on-site and checked for completeness.
Data Type:	Primary data
Secondary Data Sources:
Data Collection Methods:	Survey Research (qualitative; e.g. consumer preferences)
Data Analysis Methods:	Descriptive statistics (counting; means reporting; cross-tabulation) Regression Analysis
Industry(ies):	Software publishing
Country(ies):	China
Cross Country Study?:	No
Comparative Study?:	No
Literature review?:
Government or policy study?:
Time Period(s) of Collection:	June 2007
Funder(s):	None Stated

Abstract

This article explores the impacts of Chinese culture on users’ attitudes and intentions about software copyright and piracy. The findings reject the pervasive position that Chinese culture resists software copyright and encourages piracy behaviors. Instead, the study reports that Chinese culture has no significant impact on users’ intentions to use pirated software programs. Meanwhile, collectivistic and individualistic cultural components are found to coexist in the Chinese value system. The users with higher scores in the collectivistic component have more negative attitudes towards software companies, while the users with higher scores in the individualistic component have less negative attitudes towards software products. The coexistence of individualistic and collectivistic components prevents software users from falling into either direction of supporting or opposing software copyright and calls for a balanced account between software owners and users.

Main Results of the Study

• The non-significant contribution of cultural factors to users’ intentions offers no evidence that Chinese culture encourages piracy behaviors

• Chinese culture has varied impacts over users’ attitudes towards software copyright rather than a simplified tendency to resist software copyright.

• In terms of software copyright, if Chinese culture is compared with western cultures, it is often found that Chinese collectivist culture is positively correlated with its high piracy rate (Husted, 2000; Marron and Steel, 2000). This provides the grounds for the argument that Chinese culture resists software copyright and encourages piracy. However, when Chinese culture is empirically tested over individual users, the study is conducted within Chinese culture and with individuals as units of analysis so as to generate the different results.

Policy Implications as Stated By Author

None Stated/Implied

Coverage of Study

Coverage of Fundamental Issues

Issue	Included within Study
Relationship between protection (subject matter/term/scope) and supply/economic development/growth/welfare
Relationship between creative process and protection - what motivates creators (e.g. attribution; control; remuneration; time allocation)?
Harmony of interest assumption between authors and publishers (creators and producers/investors)
Effects of protection on industry structure (e.g. oligopolies; competition; economics of superstars; business models; technology adoption)
Understanding consumption/use (e.g. determinants of unlawful behaviour; user-generated content; social media)

Coverage of Evidence Based Policies

Issue	Included within Study
Nature and Scope of exclusive rights (hyperlinking/browsing; reproduction right)
Exceptions (distinguish innovation and public policy purposes; open-ended/closed list; commercial/non-commercial distinction)
Mass digitisation/orphan works (non-use; extended collective licensing)
Licensing and Business models (collecting societies; meta data; exchanges/hubs; windowing; crossborder availability)
Fair remuneration (levies; copyright contracts)
Enforcement (quantifying infringement; criminal sanctions; intermediary liability; graduated response; litigation and court data; commercial/non-commercial distinction; education and awareness)

Datasets

Sample size:	196
Level of aggregation:	Individual
Period of material under study:	2007