Digital Piracy: Assessing the Contributions of an Integrated Self-Control Theory and Social Learning Theory Using Structural Equation Modeling

Digital piracy is an emerging white-collar crime that requires empirical investigation. Using a nonrandom sample of 392 university undergraduates, the present study examined how self-control theory and social learning theory come together to explain digital piracy. The findings revealed that low self-control and social learning theory could come together in different ways to explain digital piracy. That is, out of five models examined, the findings revealed that social learning theory partially mediated the effect that self-control had on digital piracy. Implications of these findings are also discussed.