G. Lawrence Sanders

Preventive and deterrent controls for software piracy

In an attempt to protect their intellectual property and compete effectively in an increasingly dynamic marketplace, software publishers have employed a number of preventive and deterrent controls to counter software piracy. Conventional wisdom suggests that reducing piracy will force consumers to acquire software legitimately, thus increasing firm profits. We develop an analytical model to test the implications of antipiracy measures on publisher profits. Our results suggest that preventive controls decrease profits and deterrent controls can potentially increase profits. Empirical results are also presented that support the proposition on the impact of deterrent controls on the extent of software piracy derived from the analytical model.

International Software Piracy: Analysis of Key Issues and Impacts

The pervasiveness of software piracy throughout the world is having a profound effect on the software publishing industry and the development of digital intellectual properties and technologies-especially in developing countries, where the piracy rates are extremely high. An economic model is first presented that incorporates the incentive structures for governments, software publishers, and individual consumers. The analytical model provides the economic rationale for the reluctance of a number of governments to aggressively enact and enforce intellectual property rights. An important proposition derived from the analysis states that the governments incentive to enact and enforce copyright laws are closely related to the size of the domestic software industry. The ensuing empirical study provides support for the proposition and further suggests that this relationship holds regardless of the income levels of the countries. Our analysis reveals that alliances between foreign and domestic software publishers through product relationships can be mutually beneficial and will provide an environment of increased copyright enforcement. These results provide a viable strategy to combat global software piracy. With strong policies on copyright enforcement, and a vigorous promotion of alliances between foreign and domestic publishers, a government can increase the net welfare of the country and help establish a strong domestic software industry. Through product relationships with domestic publishers, a foreign publisher can improve profits and operate in an environment of increased intellectual property protection. We then present a general model of ethical behavior related to the impact of behavioral and cultural factors on software piracy. The purpose of this model is to examine whether these determinants of piracy behavior are supranational and transcend cultural and ethical barriers. An empirical study involving U.S. and Indian graduate students suggests that the general model of ethics as related to software piracy is valid in the United States. However, the model results from the Indian sample suggest that additional cross-cultural research with revised models and improved scales is necessary.

Digital music and online sharing: software piracy 2.0?

Considering the similarities and unique characteristics of online file sharing and software piracy.

Considerations in Ethical Decision-Making and Software Piracy

Individuals are faced with the many opportunities to pirate. The decision to pirate or not may be related to an individuals attitudes toward other ethical issues. A persons ethical and moral predispositions and the judgments that they use to make decisions may be consistent across various ethical dilemmas and may indicate their likelihood to pirate software. This paper investigates the relationship between religion and a theoretical ethical decision making process that an individual uses when evaluating ethical or unethical situations. An ethical decision making model was studied for general unethical scenarios and for the unethical behavior of software piracy. The research model was tested via path analysis using structural equation modeling and was found to be appropriate for the sample data. The results suggest that there is a relationship between religion and the stages of an ethical decision making process regarding general ethical situations and software piracy.

An empirical investigation of socio-cultural factors of information sharing in China

Understanding information sharing is an important challenge to modern organizations, and is likely to be increasingly considered when IT investment decisions are made world-wide. Our research study investigated the influence of cultural factors on information sharing in China. It was postulated that social network structures such as guanxi, Confucian dynamism, and collectivism could explain the degree to which information sharing took place between people in China. It was found that guanxi, Confucian dynamism, and collectivism all had a significant influence on information sharing.

Strategic actions in information technology investment based on real option theory

Abstract The rapid growth of information technology (IT) investments has imposed pressure on management to take into account risks and payoffs promised by the investment in their decision-making. Comprehensive but easily understandable methodologies are needed to solve the complicated evaluation problems resulting from the complexity of new technologies. This paper develops a framework of strategic actions based on real option theory. The paper identifies the basic components of IT values and strategic actions and provides the basis for valuing IT investment in terms of economic and real option value. It also provides IT managers with an easy-to-understand framework to assist in evaluating and justifying IT investments.

Global software piracy revisited

Determining why the roots of the disparity in national piracy levels lie beyond economics.

Exploring the effect of e-WOM participation on e-Loyalty in e-commerce

Abstract The idea behind the concept of Electronic Word of Mouth (e-WOM) is very important to the visibility of individuals and businesses seeking exposure on the Internet. e-WOM is defined as “any positive or negative statement made by potential, actual, or former customers about a product or company, which is made available to a multitude of people and institutions via the Internet” [39] . The purpose of this study is to understand how electronic word of mouth influences the online shopping patterns of customers. This study draws on motivation theory and identification theory to understand how e-WOM influences online shopping behavior. The results from the empirical examination are very encouraging. The proposed research model is supported as well as the accompanying hypotheses. The findings illustrate that the intrinsic motives (e.g., desire to help other customers) are more important than the extrinsic ones (e.g., monetary rewards) as the antecedents of e-WOM participation. It was also found that personal site identification has a greater impact on e-loyalty when compared to social site identification.

From DQ to EQ: understanding data quality in the context of e-business systems

A fix for irrelevant information, cognitive overhead, and disorientation---common gremlins endured by every e-business system user.

An experimental validation of the gorry and scott morton framework

The role of frameworks in information systems has recently received a great deal of critical attention. One prominent indictment, which has been directed at even commonly accepted frameworks, is that they lack empirical support, and in fact are not constructed in operational terminology. This article reports the results of an experimental lab study using MBA students as subjects to investigate the tenants of the Gorry and Scott Morton framework (Gorry and Scott Morton, 1971). While firm support is found for the assumption that the level of information attributes varies across system type in the direction postulated, there is evidence that the ability to differentiate the component attributes is affected by such factors as field dependency and mode of presentation.