Evaluation of Digital Piracy by Youths

Enjoying music and movies without paying: examining factors affecting unauthorized downloading amongst young adults

Purpose

Along with their immense benefit, online channels of communication and information-sharing also present a myriad set of challenges. The unauthorized downloading and sharing of copyrighted content such as music and movies is one such issue. This study aims to examine the factors related to the unauthorized downloading of content amongst young internet users in an emerging market.

Design/methodology/approach

An online structured questionnaire was used to collect primary data from 219 internet users between 17 and 24 years of age. The partial least squares structural equation modelling was used to analyse the primary data.

Findings

The study findings report that monetary savings and social influence are the main drivers underlying the propensity to engage in unauthorized downloading amongst young adults. Perceptions of harm caused to artists and producers appear to be a deterrent. Though the respondents perceive the quality of content downloaded from unauthorized sites to be less than desirable, and there is also a higher perceived threat from viruses, this does not appear to deter unauthorized downloading behaviour amongst this segment of consumers.

Research limitations/implications

Combating unauthorized downloading and other forms of questionable online behaviours is a challenge for multiple stakeholders. Consumption of unauthorized digital content is examined in the context of online consumers whose demographic profile is often associated with this category of questionable behaviour. The study adds to the extant understanding of the aetiology of what are often considered online unethical and illegal behaviours and makes both practical and theoretical contributions to the subject field.

Originality/value

The study examines an important aspect of rapidly evolving internet technologies. The internet provides a veil to individuals engaging in unethical online activities. Despite the existence of laws declaring these activities to be illegal, instances of copyright violations of music and movies abound. The insights regarding the drivers and deterrents of a form of online unauthorized activity are used to present a set of strategies aimed at addressing such behaviours.

A Preliminary Validation of the Polish Version of the Social Media Fatigue Scale

Background

As social media fatigue is a newly described phenomenon, we do not possess many tools to measure this concept. The main aim of the study was to establish a latent structure of the Social Media Fatigue Scale (SMFS) and to identify whether the Polish version is congruent with the Chinese version. The second aim was to examine whether the factor structure fits the data and yields a comparable goodness-of-fit index. The third aim was to consider the convergent validity of the SMFS and to verify whether tiredness and Internet addiction correlate positively.

Methods

The research was conducted on a group of 331 (1st Study) and 379 (2nd Study) adolescents and young adults. It was performed using the SMFS and Internet Addiction Test (IAT).

Results

The outcomes suggest that the three-factor structure is the optimal and reliable solution that corresponds to the original SMFS. CFA provided a good fit. All the dimensions of the SMFS correlated positively with Internet addiction.

Conclusion

The Polish version of the SMFS presented satisfactory psychometric properties, showing many similarities with the original Chinese version of the SMFS. The findings confirm that excessive use of social media may lead to discomfort and negative emotions related to feeling overwhelmed by information, social interaction overload, and personal/others' expectations.