An Analysis of the Impact of Perceived Costa Structure on Predisposition to Software Piracy.

Abstract

In academic and professional literature, illegal copying of software has been considered one of the major ethical issues of the information age. If, on the one hand, companies face increasing difficulties to deal with the problems arising from the illegal use of intellectual property, on the other hand numerous factors appear to compromise the perception of piracy as a crime. This article seeks to cover the issue from the reality of Brazilian consumers, with an analysis of the practice and the predisposition of consumers to purchase pirated software. A literature review was performed and (1) the perception of the loss generated for the firm and (2) the level of personal honesty of the consumer in exchange relations were identified as two potential factors of influence on consumer piracy behavior. An empirical study was carried with two samples, and the results showed that factors associated with perception of costs almost does not influence consumer behavior; however, the conclusion of the study was that the dimension of personal honesty has effective influence on the behavior of piracy.