ABSTRACT

Measures of ethical behaviours in research may be subject to social desirability bias (SDB). Most behavioural aspects of software piracy research are a subset of ethical research. Few studies of software piracy have explicitly addressed the issue of SDB. In this article, the extent of SDB that may be present in software piracy is empirically assessed. This was done by comparing SDB in software piracy under three conditions using the 40-item Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding (BIDR) scale. First, software piracy behaviour was examined in an experimental setting with actual money at stake. This allowed subject behaviour to be observed rather than inferred from self-report responses. Second, a survey was conducted to test the extent of software piracy based on subject self-report responses. Third, the extent of software piracy was also assessed based on peer-report responses (i.e.: the subject reported whether their peers would pirate). A comparison of the responses in the three conditions allows us to draw inferences about SDB in software piracy research. Self-report surveys exhibited high levels of SDB. The behaviour in the experimental condition, and responses in the peer-report survey method, did not exhibit SDB.

摘要

研究中对道德行为的衡量可能会受到社会期望偏差 (SDB) 的影响。软件盗版研究的大多数行为方面都是伦理研究的一个子集。很少有关于软件盗版的研究明确解决了 SDB 问题。在本文中，对软件盗版中可能存在的 SDB 的程度进行了实证评估。这是通过使用 40 项理想响应平衡清单 (BIDR) 量表比较三种情况下软件盗版中的 SDB 来完成的。首先，软件盗版行为在实验环境中进行了检查，并涉及实际资金。这允许观察对象的行为，而不是从自我报告的反应中推断出来。其次，进行了一项调查，以根据受试者自我报告的反应来测试软件盗版的程度。第三，软件盗版的程度也根据同行报告的反应进行评估（即：受试者报告他们的同行是否会盗版）。比较三种情况下的响应，可以让我们对软件盗版研究中的 SDB 有所推论。自我报告调查显示出高水平的 SDB。实验条件下的行为和同行报告调查方法中的反应没有表现出 SDB。