Shaping of Moral Intensity regarding Software Piracy in University Students: Immediate Community Effects

In an increasingly digital and global environment, businesses are concerned about protecting their digital assets. In particular, protection against software piracy is a top priority for businesses and economies that are major producers of software. In prior research scholars have argued that software piracy can be reduced by increasing moral intensity regarding software piracy in individuals. In this research we were interested in studying the impact of the immediate community on the development of moral intensity of students. We report our findings from an empirical study of over 800 students from two U.S. universities. Results indicate that the moral intensity of any student is significantly related to the perceived level of moral intensity of other students and is not related to the perceived levels of moral intensity of other immediate community groups, the faculty and university employees. Results of this research have implications for developing and implementing appropriate policies to reduce software piracy.