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Is cash perceived as more valuable than digital money? The mediating effect of psychological ownership and psychological distance

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Abstract

This research examines how the type of money (cash vs. digital) affects consumers’ perceived purchasing power (PPP) of the money and the mediating mechanisms of psychological ownership and psychological distance. Three lab experiments confirm that cash results in higher PPP than does digital money, and that both psychological ownership and psychological distance contribute to the effect of money type on PPP. Our findings provide theoretical implications for the psychological research on the type of money and its influence and practical implications for e-payment and online shopping behaviors.

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Funding

The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Research Start-up Foundation of DLUT (82232030), Natural Science Foundation of China (72172131), and Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province (2021J01038, 2020J05013).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Enterprise Management, School of Economics and Management, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 116024, China

    Kun Zhou

  2. Department of Marketing, School of Management, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, China

    Jun Ye

  3. Department of Business Administration, School of Management, Xiamen University, Jiageng 1-204, 422 Siming South Road, Fujian, Xiamen, China

    Xiao-xiao Liu

Authors
  1. Kun Zhou
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  2. Jun Ye
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  3. Xiao-xiao Liu
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Contributions

Kun Zhou was responsible for the overall framework, hypotheses development, experimental design, data collection, and data analysis. Jun Ye was responsible for the overall framework, hypotheses development, experimental design, and responses to reviewers’ comments. Xiao-xiao Liu was responsible for the overall framework, hypotheses development, and responses to reviewers’ comments.

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Correspondence to Xiao-xiao Liu.

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Zhou, K., Ye, J. & Liu, Xx. Is cash perceived as more valuable than digital money? The mediating effect of psychological ownership and psychological distance. Mark Lett 34, 55–68 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11002-022-09624-9

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