Understanding Music Sharing Behavior in China: Development of an Instrument

In this paper we propose a research model, set of constructs, and instrument for collecting data in China to investigate online behavior in the usage of file sharing technologies by music consumers. Recent studies associated with music download were focused, for the most part, on highly infrastructure-developed countries. Since technology maturity, market conditions, and economical situations in developing countries are different from those of developed countries; we developed a model for investigation online behavior in Chinese music consumers. As a pilot study to test the constructs in our model and its suitability for use in China, we surveyed 152 people the United States. We found the constructs robust for further investigation. The instrument was revised based upon the results of factor analysis and reliability testing and translated into Chinese. Data was further collected from 439 people in China. Results show that the constructs satisfy the reliability testing as well as preliminary regression analysis for the Chinese sample.