Evaluating digital piracy intentions on behaviors

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to assess how well digital piracy self-report intentions predict actual digital piracy behaviors in service marketing research. Design/methodology/approach - Study 1 collects 321 surveys to investigate potential measurement issues related to digital piracy intention formation. Study 2 replicates Study 1 based on a separate sample of 267 respondents, and additionally links digital piracy intentions to directly observed digital piracy behaviors across a peer-to-peer network. Findings - The results first validate a strong predictive relationship between self-report intentions and observed digital piracy behaviors (R-2 = 0.36). Second, common method bias and measurement error do not appear to threaten the veracity of reported results. Third, a social psychological model of how digital piracy behaviors emerge is validated based upon the folk theory of the mind. Finally, a two-dimensional conceptualization of frequency of past behaviors is identified based upon exploratory factor analysis using structural equation modeling. Research limitations/implications - The research reported here relies on experimental methods of measuring peer-to-peer network activity. Future research might consider the motivational and attitudinal antecedents to digital piracy intention formation. Practical implications - The results afford service marketers assurance that self-report measures of digital piracy behavioral intentions can serve as predictive measures of future behaviors. This helps make the collection of data in this context both achievable and practical. Also, a methodological framework is identified to strengthen measurement models associated with this type of research. Originality/value - The research provides a first effort to empirically relate behavioral intention data to unobtrusively observed digital piracy behaviors across peer-to-peer networks.