Shanahan and Hyman (2010)
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Source Details
Shanahan and Hyman (2010) | |
Title: | Motivators and enablers of SCOURing: A study of online piracy in the US and UK |
Author(s): | Shanahan, K. J., Hyman, M. R. |
Year: | 2010 |
Citation: | Shanahan, K. J., & Hyman, M. R. (2010). Motivators and enablers of SCOURing: A study of online piracy in the US and UK. Journal of Business Research, 63(9), 1095-1102. |
Link(s): | Definitive , Open Access |
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About the Data | |
Data Description: | This study seeks to explore the behaviour of people engaged in SCOURing (Sharing Copyrighted or Unauthorized Replications).
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Data Type: | Primary data |
Secondary Data Sources: | |
Data Collection Methods: | |
Data Analysis Methods: | |
Industry(ies): | |
Country(ies): | |
Cross Country Study?: | Yes |
Comparative Study?: | Yes |
Literature review?: | No |
Government or policy study?: | No |
Time Period(s) of Collection: | |
Funder(s): |
Abstract
Sharing Copyrighted or Unauthorized Replications (SCOURing) is a common activity among some 80 million online file-swappers. Unfortunately, SCOURing is also an illegal activity. A better understanding of SCOURing could help to mitigate its practice. To that end, results from an empirical study of US and UK consumers suggest SCOURing is explained by motivations (justification, believed pervasiveness by peers, believed risklessness, and experiential reasons) and ability (tech-savviness). If true, then companies' efforts to reduce SCOURing by legal action or trying to educate consumers about the victims of SCOURing may be ineffective.
Main Results of the Study
The main results of this study are:
- Copy-protection schemes are as ineffective as legal sanctions. Network-and-software-savvy consumers eventually subvert barriers to SCOURing like encryption. Further, shuttering file-sharing networks merely shifted SCOURing to alternative networks.
- Many consumers believe SCOURing is justified by past pricing abuses of impersonal corporations. Consumers are unwilling to pay more than a trivial amount to download music. Therefore, current pricing schemes for online access are unlikely to reduce SCOURing.
- SCOURing is an entrenched consumer behavior. The most prolific—college-age consumers—grew up sharing files via accessibleP2P networks. As a result, they never or rarely paid for digitised intellectual property; for them, payment would be aberrant.
- The decision to engage in SCOURing is based, at least partly, on beliefs about the behaviours of important others. Consistent with social learning theory, this research suggests peer influence relates positively to SCOURing.
- Motivation (justification, peer influence, and believed risklessness) and ability (tech-savviness) as antecedents to SCOURing suggest why anti-SCOURing legal remedies were impotent and customer alienating.
- If people act in a difficult-to-monitor way believed acceptable to other people, then efforts to coerce anyone to act otherwise is futile.
Policy Implications as Stated By Author
The authors state that if the findings of the study are correct, "companies' efforts to reduce SCOURing by legal action or trying to educate consumers about the victims of SCOURing may be ineffective."
Coverage of Study
Datasets
Sample size: | 574 |
Level of aggregation: | P2P users |
Period of material under study: | Not stated |