Different researchers commit themselves to differing hypotheses when addressing the
relationship between attitudes to unauthorised copying of software and the level of moral
development. Some concentrate on moral intensity, others on moral judgement and still
others on ethical decision-making. Some researchers assert that no one single hypothesis
is correct but that certain hypotheses will be true under certain conditions. The idea that
there is no single correct hypothesis has paved the way for the consideration of moderator
variables of the attitudes to unauthorised copying of software and the level of moral
development relationship. One variable in particular, that is, the Knowledge of
Intellectual Property laws, has not yet been empirically examined in terms of its capacity
as a moderator for this relationship.
This exploratory, non-experimental, cross-sectional design explores the relationship
between attitudes to unauthorised copying of software and the level of moral
development as well as the effect of Knowledge of Intellectual Property laws on this
relationship. A questionnaire was distributed to three medium-sized organisations in the
Johannesburg area. The questionnaire consisted of a biographical blank and three
different scales. The biographical blank was used as a means of examining the computer
background of the respondents whilst the scales measured respondent attitudes to
unauthorised copying of software, levels of moral development and respondent
knowledge of Intellectual Property laws. The researcher received responses from 150
respondents from across the three organisations.
It was with these 150 responses that two types of analyses were conducted. The initial
analysis was a Pearson’s Product-Moment Correlation which was used to determine the
nature of the relationship between attitudes to unauthorised copying of software and level
of moral development. The second analysis was a moderated multiple regression which
was used to determine the moderator impact of Knowledge of Intellectual Property laws
on the relationship between the independent and dependent variables.
The results of the correlation indicated that there is a significant positive relationship
between the respondents’ attitudes to unauthorised copying of software and the level of
moral development. Additionally, there are significant relationships between each
measured level of moral development with the respondents’ attitudes. The moderated
multiple linear regression revealed that Knowledge of Intellectual Property laws does not
have a moderating effect on the relationship between attitudes to unauthorised copying of
software.
A discussion of these findings is included together with limitations and practical
implications of the study as well as recommendations for future research.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/4895 |
| Date | 27 May 2008 |
| Creators | King, Bernadette |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 555240 bytes, 12604 bytes, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf |
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