Software piracy: neutralization techniques that circumvent ethical decision-making

This research examines the arguments used to condone or condemn the unauthorized duplication of software [a.k.a. piracy]. The research focuses on: (1) extending the existing neutralization framework to include counter-neutralization; (2) describing the relationships between neutralization, moral intensity, and counter-neutralization; (3) revealing neutralization and counter-neutralization arguments in the context of software piracy; and (4) revealing the effects of characteristics of information technology---cost, product type (data/software), and intangibility---on the production of neutralization. Three essays describe the set of studies. The first essay expands neutralization theory to include counter-neutralization techniques and theoretically develops the relationships between moral intensity of an issue and the techniques of neutralization and counter-neutralization. The first essay also includes a review of the existing research and places the neutralization, moral intensity, and counter-neutralization relationships in a general ethical decision-making framework. The second essay is a content analysis of 192 articles from the 5 top-circulating U.S. newspapers in the 1989--2005 timeframe. Results of the empirical analysis confirm the use of both neutralization and counter-neutralization techniques in the public discussion about software piracy. The analysis reveals a disjoint in the types of neutralizations and counter-neutralizations used. Furthermore, the analysis reveals a mismatch in worldviews between rationales that support unauthorized duplication of software and those that reject it. The third essay is a factorial-design experimental study of the effects of product type, product cost, and product intangibility on the types of verbalized neutralizations. A content analysis of 20 scenario-guided concurrent verbal protocols reveals that changes in the cost of information technology influence the type of neutralization techniques used to support unauthorized duplication decisions. Social consensus, a measure of the moral intensity of a situation, is shown to vary based upon information technology characteristics. The dissertation connects various streams of literature as it links and expands fields of ethical decision-making and neutralization. The dissertation is unique in its social constructionist approach to software piracy and its application of neutralization theory to a non-violent action. Because the dissertation cites actual justifications for unauthorized duplication, it has implications for academics and practitioners.