Integrating Intellectual Property Concepts into MIS Education: An Empirical Assessment*

The evolving legal environment surrounding intellectual property (IP) and its impact on information systems, especially involving electronic commerce, and the type of education and training provided by management information systems (MIS) faculty to MIS students is a relationship that has not been investigated. Although organizations are confronted with IP infringement actions dealing with copyright, trademark, and their relationship to information systems, these issues are not adequately dealt with in MIS courses and programs today. These include improper posting of copyrighted material onto Web sites, improper use of metatags, and inappropriate deep linking and framing. Metatags, linking, and framing are often integral components of e-commerce and web development coursework. Using the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), this study surveyed 122 MIS academics to ascertain their intentions to incorporate these IP concepts into their MIS courses. The results strongly support the TPB constructs regarding faculty members' intentions to incorporate these issues. Follow-up contacts with a number of respondents also showed very strong support for academics actually incorporating these issues into their coursework.

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