Studies from Lancaster University in the Area of Risk Management Reported (Risk, Benefit, and Moderators of the Affect Heuristic in a Widespread…

Studies from Lancaster University in the Area of Risk Management Reported (Risk, Benefit, and Moderators of the Affect Heuristic in a Widespread Unlawful Activity: Evidence from a Survey of Unlawful File-Sharing Behavior)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Weekly News -- Research findings on Risk Management are discussed in a new report. According to news reporting out of Lancaster, United Kingdom, by VerticalNews editors, research stated, "Increasing the perception of legal risk via publicized litigation and lobbying for copyright law enforcement has had limited success in reducing unlawful content sharing by the public. We consider the extent to which engaging in file sharing online is motivated by the perceived benefits of this activity as opposed to perceived legal risks."

Financial supporters for this research include Research Councils UK, Arts and Humanities Research Council, University of East Anglia, Newcastle University.

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from Lancaster University, "Moreover, we explore moderators of the relationship between perceived risk and perceived benefits; namely, trust in industry and legal regulators, and perceived online anonymity. We examine these questions via a large two-part survey of consumers of music (n=658) and eBooks (n=737). We find that perceptions of benefit, but not of legal risk, predict stated file-sharing behavior. An affect heuristic is employed: as perceived benefit increases, perceived risk falls. This relationship is increased under high regulator and industry trust (which actually increases perceived risk in this study) and low anonymity (which also increases perceived risk)."

According to the news editors, the research concluded: "We propose that, given the limited impact of perceived legal risk upon unlawful downloading, it would be better for the media industries to target enhancing the perceived benefit and availability of lawful alternatives."

For more information on this research see: Risk, Benefit, and Moderators of the Affect Heuristic in a Widespread Unlawful Activity: Evidence from a Survey of Unlawful File-Sharing Behavior. Risk Analysis, 2016;37(6):1146-1156. (Wiley-Blackwell - www.wiley.com/; Risk Analysis - onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1539-6924)

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting S.J. Watson, Dept. of Psychology, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK. Additional authors for this research include D.J. Zizzo and P. Fleming.

Keywords for this news article include: Europe, Lancaster, Legal Issues, United Kingdom, Risk Management.

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