Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/297121 
Year of Publication: 
2023
Series/Report no.: 
LEM Working Paper Series No. 2023/13
Publisher: 
Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Pisa
Abstract: 
This paper bridges the organisational psychology and the economics of science literature to examine the role of ideology-based psychological contract breach in eliciting mild deviant behaviour in academia. We provide empirical evidence of how the deterioration of academic values related to the diffusion of the ''publish or perish'' paradigm sparkles copyright violations through Sci-Hub. Based on a representative sample of 2849 academics working in top institutions in 6 European countries, we find that ideology-based psychological contract breach explains Sci-Hub usage, also when controlling for other trivial motivations. The magnitude of the effect depends on contextual and demographic characteristics. Females, foreign and tenured scholars are less likely to respond with digital piracy when experiencing a contract breach of academic values. Our results contribute to prevention policy design, highlighting how policies restoring academic values might also address academic piracy.
Subjects: 
Academic Values
Digital Piracy
Deviant Behaviour
Psychological Contract Breach
Sci-Hub
JEL: 
D23
L86
O34
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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