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Journal of Business Ethics

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28-07-2015

One Sail Fits All? A Psychographic Segmentation of Digital Pirates

Authors: Charlotte Emily De Corte, Patrick Van Kenhove

Published in: Journal of Business Ethics | Issue 3/2017

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Abstract

This paper focuses on segmenting digital movie and TV series pirates and on investigating the effectiveness of piracy-combatting measures i.e., legal and educational strategies, in light of these segments. To address these research objectives, two online studies were conducted. First, 1277 valid responses were gathered with an online survey. Four pirate segments were found based on differing combinations of attitude toward piracy, ethical evaluation of piracy and feelings of guilt. The anti-pirate, conflicted pirate, cavalier pirate, and die-hard pirate can be placed on a continuum of increasing pirating frequency, subjective norm, pirating self-efficacy, habit, and decreasing in perceived harm, respectively. The segments also differ in deontological and teleological orientations. Second, in an experimental mixed design, we find that the educational strategy is more effective than the legal strategy in lowering pirating intentions for the conflicted and cavalier pirate. However, both strategies fail at lowering intentions of the die-hard pirate, although perceived harm and perceived impunity were significantly influenced. These findings offer a more profound understanding of pirate segments and how they react differently to piracy-combatting measures. As a result, better strategies can be developed to control digital piracy.

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Involvement of minors Minors below age 16 were involved in both studies 1 and 2. The ethical protocol of the authors’ university with respect to scientific research involving minors states that research including minors may be conducted only if the involvement of minors is relevant to the research issue and only on the conditions that (a) the stress imposed on the minor is minimal, (b) informed consent is given by either the minor’s parents or legal guardian or, if the research activities take place at or via the minor’s educational institution or another entity with which the minor is affiliated, that institution grants written permission for participation in the study, and (c) the minor participates willingly and has the freedom to withdraw from the study at any time. As the study wishes to investigate whether age differences exist in piracy behavior, the inclusion of minors is relevant to the research issue. This study complies with all guidelines imposed by the ethical protocol and has been approved by the university’s ethical committee. The authors were advised to enclose a message at the end of the questionnaire informing the minor about the illegal nature of torrent downloading, the dangers and risks involved, and appropriate online behavior in general. The message concluded by stating that, if the minor had any questions regarding the content of the questionnaire or online behavior in general, he or she should contact the researchers or talk to parents, teachers, or counselors.

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Title: One Sail Fits All? A Psychographic Segmentation of Digital Pirates
Authors: Charlotte Emily De Corte
Patrick Van Kenhove
Publication date: 28-07-2015
Publisher: Springer Netherlands
Published in: Journal of Business Ethics / Issue 3/2017
Print ISSN: 0167-4544
Electronic ISSN: 1573-0697
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-015-2789-8

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