Huang (2005)
Contents
Source Details
| Huang (2005) | |
| Title: | File sharing as a form of music consumption |
| Author(s): | Huang, C. Y. |
| Year: | 2005 |
| Citation: | Huang, C. Y. (2005). File sharing as a form of music consumption. International Journal of Electronic Commerce, 9(4), 37-55. |
| Link(s): | Definitive |
| Key Related Studies: | |
| Discipline: | |
| Linked by: | Coyle, Gould, Gupta and Gupta (2009), Shanahan and Hyman (2010) |
| About the Data | |
| Data Description: | A sample of 187 senior students who took one of three marketing-related elective courses at a local university in Taiwan was surveyed to provide data for the empirical study. |
| Data Type: | Primary data |
| Secondary Data Sources: | |
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| Data Analysis Methods: | |
| Industry(ies): | |
| Country(ies): | |
| Cross Country Study?: | No |
| Comparative Study?: | No |
| Literature review?: | No |
| Government or policy study?: | No |
| Time Period(s) of Collection: |
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| Funder(s): |
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Abstract
Led by the development and widespread application of digital technology, consumers are able to duplicate as well as distribute digitized music products at almost no cost. Music file sharing has been deemed illegal in many countries and is quite detrimental to record labels around the world. The music industry is looking for a business model that would let it tap into the new mode of file-sharing consumption. Until now music file-sharing behavior has not been systematically analyzed in the literature. This paper presents an analytical framework by looking at music file-sharing behavior from the perspectives of moral judgment, expertise, and social networking, and then presents a conceptual model of sharing through a set of hypotheses. An empirical study based on the model provides in-depth insights into sharing behavior. The paper concludes with a discussion of implications and further research possibilities.
Main Results of the Study
This Article aims at proposing a model of consumer behavior which accounts for a better understanding of music piracy. The model mainly considers the moral judgment perspective, the expertise perspective, and the social networking perspective, and it investigates their interrelationships with consumers’ intensity of music file sharing. More specifically, this paper shows that:
- The higher the degree to which consumers judge file sharing to be morally right, the more likely they are to have the expertise to share files.
- A higher level of sharing expertise leads to more intense sharing behavior.
- Entrenched knowledge of old modes of music consumption inhibits a consumer from taking advantage of sharing as a social networking opportunity.
- The social networking orientation of file sharing lessens, rather than heightens, the intensity of music file-sharing behavior.
Policy Implications as Stated By Author
- The music industry value chain that found its ground in mass production cannot guarantee the survival of market players in the postmodern consumption condition where consumers are capable of reproduction and distribution, digitally and therefore perfectly.
- Consumers' perceptions that a producer is unfair give them a self-righteous excuse for infringing on the producer's copyright.
Coverage of Study
Datasets
| Sample size: | 187 |
| Level of aggregation: | University students |
| Period of material under study: | 2005 |
