Is Information and Communication Technology a Facilitator or Inhibitor of Software Piracy? A Cross-National Study

• Main Authors: Hui-Fang Pai, 白卉芳
• Other Authors: Yu-Shu Peng
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2008
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/9t42e3

碩士 === 國立東華大學 === 國際企業學系 === 96 === Recently, software piracy has become a worldwide and serious problem causing serious losses related to unemployment and damage to the software industry. Literatures about software piracy, however, reveal a paradox in that some scholars argue that software piracy is actually helpful for technological diffusion, while better technological development will also provide stronger incentive to use the piracy. This leads to a question: Is the development of technology an assistant for software piracy? In this study, we will focus on the role that technology plays, especially in information and communication technology (ICT). This study also adopts the PEST framework to measure the influence of macro-environmental variables on software piracy, with hypotheses tested on a sample of 59 countries during the period from 2003 to 2006 by employing a multiple regression model. Empirical results indicate that information and communication technology, intellectual property protection, and education are all significantly –and negatively- related to software piracy.