Global consumer values on the Internet & the relationship of diffusion characteristics, lifestyle & trustworthiness to P2P file-sharing behavior

International Journal of Business Research, March, 2007 by Valerie L. Vaccaro, Deborah Y. Cohn

"I like to see my friends enjoy songs." (Female, Croatia).

"People have a great hunger for arts, especially for music. Like all kinds of art, music has always been shared between groups of people.... The new mp3 technology ... will let people feel the effects of music sharing ... and the joy of this art." (Male, Turkey).

Respondents' watching and sharing enjoyment of music with their friends relates to observability as well as compatibility with one's lifestyle. As mentioned before in the analysis of Internet community, observability appears to be linked to the diffusion characteristic of social relevance (Gatignon and Robertson, 1991). Throughout history, music has been considered a universal "language" that communicates shared emotions.

4.6 Humanitarianism and Ethics

Humanitarianism, considered a core American value, represents a concern with helpfulness and kindness (Williams, 1963). One respondent from Russia viewed the original Napster as a humanitarian company:

"They do not think about their profit ... but only about (consumer) satisfaction." (Female, Russia).

This view of the original Napster is based on misinformation. This respondent (as is true of many original Napster users and the general public) is not aware that the intention of Napster's founders from the beginning of its inception was to eventually turn it from a renegade free service to a viable, profit-making business model (Greenfeld, 2000). Kazaa also has plans to transform itself into a legitimate, for-profit service. However, many P2P file-sharers have this attitude that the P2P service organization they are using is humanitarian because they do not charge any fees and are not interested in making a profit. Along these lines, this consumer value appears to be related to the trustworthiness attribute of "benevolence" (i.e., the extent that an organization wants to do good for and cares about its consumers) as well as social and psychological risks (Huff, 2000). One female consumer respondent in the study (from Mexico) believed that participation in these services was unethical and therefore she did not participate in peer-to-peer file transfers. As suggested by this verbatim, she follows the golden rule, believing that using these services is unethical and does not download free digital music, nor does she condone the behavior of those who do:

"I am against the (position) that Napster took. For me, Napster was performing unethical actions because (they were) not respecting what others do." (Female, Mexico). This respondent's ethical position is consistent with Lowry (1991) who found that incompatibility with values is a key factor in product nonadoption and lack of diffusion. Values that act as barriers to diffusion have also been found in the research on the diffusion of on-line banking (Fain and Roberts, 1997).

In addition, as the representative quote illustrates, this value appears to be related to the cost reason why consumers want to shop online. There is no doubt that a major reason for the rapid global diffusion of P2P file-sharing has been because the services are free--at no direct financial cost to the user. TABLE 1 provides a summary of the five consumer values and five diffusion of innovation characteristics, along with representative quotes and country-of-origin for the consumer participants in regards to their perceptions on the use of unauthorized music file-trading services.