Robin Hood is alive: The perceived morality and social acceptance of pirated products and counterfeits usage

• Main Authors: CHANG, Hannah H., KEINAN, Anat, LEHMAN, Donald
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2007
• Subjects: Business
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/5729
• Institution: Singapore Management University

We employ both direct and indirect methods to explore the piracy phenomenon. Our analyses suggest that consumers not only justifythe consumption of pirated products and find it acceptable, but under certain conditions view piracy as more socially desirable thanpurchasing the original, copyrighted product. Specifically, we demonstrate that perceived morality of consuming pirated productsdepends on characteristics of the product and the manufacturer of the original (copyrighted) product, as well as how the piratedproducts are obtained. We find that consumers who use pirated product originally produced by a large corporation are viewed as“Robin Hoods.” Implications for research on consumption ethics are discussed.