Abstract
In this chapter, we present evidence that despite the intangible nature of digital technologies, consumers often come to feel psychological ownership of these technologies. Further, we find that digital technologies often facilitate the emergence of psychological ownership of non-digital targets. Digital affordances appear to play a key role in these processes. Digital affordances are characteristics of a digital technology object that facilitate users’ abilities to appropriate or engage with the technology (e.g., interactive design elements and interfaces) and can constrain or expand users’ opportunities for developing feelings of ownership for a digital target. Additionally, consumers’ motivational orientations and individual differences impact the extent to which they choose to leverage digital affordances and thus the extent to which affordances translate into feelings of ownership. We review research conducted in diverse digital contexts (e.g., websites, remixed content, virtual worlds, gaming, social media, virtual communities) and identify current implications for managers as well as future opportunities for researchers.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Atasoy, O., & Morewedge, C. (2018). Digital goods are valued less than physical goods. Journal of Consumer Research, 44(6), 1343–1357.
Bardhi, F., & Eckhardt, G. M. (2012). Access-based consumption: The case of car sharing. Journal of Consumer Research, 39(4), 881–898.
Barki, H. B., Paré, G. P., & Sicotte, C. S. (2008). Linking IT implementation and acceptance via the construct of psychological ownership of information technology. Journal of Information Technology (Palgrave Macmillan), 23(4), 269–280.
Baxter, W. L., & Aurisicchio, M. (2018). Ownership by design. In J. Peck & S. B. Shu (Eds.), Psychological ownership and consumer behavior (pp. 119–132). New York: Springer.
Baxter, W. L., Aurisicchio, M., & Childs, P. R. N. (2015). A psychological ownership approach to designing object attachment. Journal of Engineering Design, 26(4–6), 140–156.
Belk, R. W. (1988). Possessions and the Extended Self. Journal of Consumer Research, 15(2), 139–168.
Belk, R. W. (2013). Extended self in a digital world. Journal of Consumer Research, 40(3), 477–500. https://doi.org/10.1086/671052
Belk, R. W. (2014). You are what you can access: Sharing and collaborative consumption online. Journal of Business Research, 67(8), 1595–1600.
Belk, R. W. (2017). Consumers in an age of autonomous and semi-autonomous machines. In J. John Sherry & E. Fischer (Eds.), Currents in consumer culture theory (pp. 5–17). London: Routledge.
Belk, R. W. (2018). Ownership, the extended self, and the extended object. In J. Peck & S. B. Shu (Eds.), Psychological Ownership and Consumer Behavior (pp. 53–63). New York: Springer.
Belk, R. W. (forthcoming). Robots, cyborgs, and consumption. In A. Lewis (Ed.), Handbook of psychology and economic behaviour. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Belk, R. W., & Tumbat, G. (2005). The cult of Macintosh. Consumption, Markets & Culture, 8(3), 205–217. https://doi.org/10.1080/10253860500160403
Brasel, S. A. (2016). Touching versus talking: Alternative interfaces and the extended self. In P. Moreau & S. Puntoni (Eds.), NA – Advances in consumer research (Vol. 44, pp. 65–69). Duluth, MN.
Brasel, S. A., & Gips, J. (2014). Tablets, touchscreens, and touchpads: How varying touch interfaces trigger psychological ownership and endowment. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 24(2), 226–233. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcps.2013.10.003
Brown, G., Lawrence, T. B., & Robinson, S. L. (2005). Territoriality in organizations. Academy of Management Review, 30(3), 577–594.
Bucy, E. P., & Tao, C.-C. (2007). The mediated moderation model of interactivity. Media Psychology, 9(3), 647–672.
Carlson, E. N., Vazire, S., & Oltmanns, T. F. (2011). You probably think this paper’s about you: Narcissists' perceptions of their personality and reputation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101(1), 185–201. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0023781
Cacioppo, J. T., & Petty, R. E. (1982). The need for cognition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 42(1), 116.
Castelo, N., Ward, A., & Schmitt, B. (2017). The role of mind perception in consumers’ reactions to artificial intelligence. Paper presented at the Society for Consumer Psychology Winter Conference, San Francisco.
Chu, C. (2018). Psychological ownership in hoarding. In J. Peck & S. B. Shu (Eds.), Psychological ownership and consumer behavior (pp. 135–142). New York: Springer.
Coombs, C. R., Doherty, N. F., & Loan-Clarke, J. (2001). The importance of user ownership and positive user attitudes in the successful adoption of community information systems. Journal of Organizational and End User Computing, 13(4), 5.
Dickert, S., Ashby, N., & Dickert, A. (2018). Trading under the influence: The effects of psychological ownership on economic decision making. In J. Peck & S. B. Shu (Eds.), Psychological ownership and consumer behavior (pp. 145–158). New York: Springer.
Friedman, O., & Neary, K. R. (2008). Determining who owns what: Do children infer ownership from first possession? Cognition, 107(3), 829–849. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2007.12.002
Friedman, O., Pesowski, M., & Goulding, B. (2018). Legal ownership is psychological: Evidence from young children. In J. Peck & S. B. Shu (Eds.), Psychological ownership and consumer behavior (pp. 19–28). New York: Springer.
Fuchs, C., Prandelli, E., & Schreier, M. (2010). The psychological effects of empowerment strategies on consumers’ product demand. Journal of Marketing, 74(1), 65–79. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkg.74.1.65
Gaskin, J., & Lyytinen, K. (2012). Psychological ownership and the individual appropriation of technology. In Y. K. Dwivedi, M. R. Wade, & S. L. Schneberger (Eds.), Information systems theory (pp. 25–39). New York: Springer.
Granovetter, M. (1985). Economic action and social structure: The problem of embeddedness. American Journal of Sociology, 481–510.
Grey, T. C. (1980). The disintegration of property Nomos (Vol. 22, pp. 69–85): American Society for Political and Legal Philosophy.
Hair, J. F., Barth, K., Neubert, D., & Sarstedt, M. (2016). Examining the role of psychological ownership and feedback in customer empowerment strategies. Journal of Creating Value, 2(2), 194–210.
Hassenzahl, M., Diefenbach, S., & Göritz, A. (2010). Needs, affect, and interactive products–Facets of user experience. Interacting with Computers, 22(5), 353–362.
Hofacker, C. (2016). Social media marketing: Some thoughts on what we still need to learn. Paper presented at the American Marketing Association Winter Marketing Academic Conference, Las Vegas, NV.
Hoffman, D. L., & Novak, T. P. (forthcoming). Consumer and object experience in the internet of things: An assemblage theory approach. Journal of Consumer Research.
Honneth, A. (1996). The struggle for recognition: The moral grammar of social conflicts. Mit Press.
Hulland, J., Thompson, S., & Smith, K. (2015). Exploring uncharted waters: Use of psychological ownership theory in marketing. Journal of Marketing Theory & Practice, 23(2), 140–147.
Jung, J. M., Hui, H. C., Min, K. S., & Martin, D. (2014). Does telic/paratelic user mode matter on the effectiveness of interactive internet advertising? A reversal theory perspective. Journal of Business Research, 67(6), 1303–1309. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2013.03.002
Kaltcheva, V. D., & Weitz, B. A. (2006). When should a retailer create an exciting store environment? Journal of Marketing, 70(1), 107–118.
Kamleitner, B., & Erki, B. (2013). Payment method and perceptions of ownership. Marketing Letters, 24(1), 57–69. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11002-012-9203-4
Kamleitner, B., & Mitchell, V.-W. (2018). Can consumers experience ownership for their personal data? From issues of scope and invisibility to agents handling our digital blueprints. In J. Peck & S. B. Shu (Eds.), Psychological ownership and consumer behavior (pp. 91–114). New York: Springer.
Kamleitner, B., Suessenbach, S., Thuerridl, C., & Ruzeviciute, R. (2016). This brand is mine: Brand psychological ownership as a distinct construct and powerful driver of consumer behavior. Paper presented at the Association for Consumer Research Annual Conference, Berlin.
Kaplan, R., & Kaplan, S. (1989). The experience of nature: A psychological perspective. Cambridge University Press.
Karahanna, E., Xu, S. X., & Zhang, N. A. (2015). Psychological ownership motivation and the use of social media. Journal of Marketing Theory & Practice, 23(2).
Kim, J., Spielmann, N., & McMillan, S. J. (2011). Experience effects on interactivity: Functions, processes, and perceptions. Journal of Business Research, 65(2012), 1543–1550.
Kim, S., Kim, S.-G., Jeon, Y., Jun, S., & Kim, J. (2016). Appropriate or Remix? The effects of social recognition and psychological ownership on intention to share in online communities. Human–Computer Interaction, 31(2), 97–132.
Kirk, C. P. (2010). New media books: Can innovation pay? The International Journal of Technology, Knowledge and Society, 6(3), 83–97.
Kirk, C. P. (2018). When good fences make good customers: Exploring psychological ownership and territoriality in marketing. In C. Olckers, L. v. Zyl, & L. v. d. Vaart (Eds.), Theoretical orientations and practical applications of psychological ownership. Cham, Switzerland: Springer.
Kirk, C. P., Chiagouris, L., & Gopalakrishna, P. (2012). Some people just want to read: The roles of age, interactivity, and perceived usefulness of print in the consumption of digital information products. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 19(1), 168–178.
Kirk, C. P., Chiagouris, L., Lala, V., & Thomas, J. (2015). How do digital natives and digital immigrants respond differently to interactivity online? A model for predicting consumer attitudes and intentions to use digital information products. Journal of Advertising Research, 55(1).
Kirk, C. P., & Hanna, R. C. (2014). Consumer emotional responses to interactive native advertising and their effect on attitude and consumption duration. Paper presented at the American Marketing Association Winter Educators’ Conference, Orlando, FL.
Kirk, C. P., McSherry, B., & Swain, S. D. (2015). Investing the self: The effect of nonconscious goals on investor psychological ownership and word-of-mouth intentions. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 58(C), 186–194.
Kirk, C. P., Peck, J., & Swain, S. D. (2018). Property lines in the mind: Consumers’ psychological ownership and their territorial responses. Journal of Consumer Research.
Kirk, C. P., & Sarstedt, M. (2016). Psychological ownership: A concept of value to the marketing field. In M. W. Obal, N. Krey, & C. Bushardt (Eds.), Let’s get engaged! Crossing the threshold of marketing’s engagement era. New York: Springer.
Kirk, C. P., & Swain, S. D. (2013). Touching the intangible: Perceptions of interactivity and ownership in new media. AMA Winter Educators’ Conference Proceedings, 24, 464–465.
Kirk, C. P., & Swain, S. D. (2015). Interactivity and psychological ownership in consumer value co-creation. In K. Kubacki (Ed.), Ideas in Marketing: Finding the New and Polishing the Old (pp. 121–121). Springer.
Kirk, C. P., & Swain, S. D. (2016). The value in lurking: The effect of a mere opportunity for two-way communication on consumers’ psychological ownership and valuation of digital content. Paper presented at the The 2016 American Marketing Association Winter Educators’ Conference, Las Vegas.
Kirk, C. P., Swain, S. D., & Gaskin, J. E. (2015). I’m proud of it: Consumer technology appropriation and psychological ownership. Journal of Marketing Theory & Practice, 23(2), 166–184.
Kitayama, S., Markus, H. R., Matsumoto, H., & Norasakkunkit, V. (1997). Individual and collective processes in the construction of the self: Self-enhancement in the United States and self-criticism in Japan. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72(6), 1245–1267. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.72.6.1245
Kivetz, R. (2005). Promotion reactance: The role of effort-reward congruity. Journal of Consumer Research, 31(4), 725–736.
Kovacheva, A., & Lamberton, C. (2018). Whose experience is it, anyway? Psychological ownership and enjoyment of shared experiences. In J. Peck & S. B. Shu (Eds.), Psychological ownership and consumer behavior (pp. 195–207). New York: Springer.
Kristofferson, K., Daniels, M., & Morales, A. (2017). Positive effects from negative virtual experiences: How virtual reality can be used effectively in marketing. Paper presented at the Society for Consumer Research Winter Conference, San Francisco.
Lee, J., & Suh, A. (2015). How do virtual community members develop psychological ownership and what are the effects of psychological ownership in virtual communities? Computers in Human Behavior, 45, 382–391. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2014.12.002
Lee, S.-J., Lee, W.-N., Kim, H., & Stout, P. (2004). A comparison of objective characteristics and user perception of web sites. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 4(2), 61–75.
Lee, Y., & Chen, A. (2011). Usability design and psychological ownership of a virtual world. Journal of Management Information Systems, 28(3), 269–308.
Lessard-Bonaventure, S., & Chebat, J.-C. (2015). Psychological ownership, touch and willingness to pay for an extended warranty. Journal of Marketing Theory & Practice, 23(2), 224–234.
Liu, Y., & Shrum, L. J. (2002). What is interactivity and is it always such a good thing? Implications of definition, person, and situation for the influence of interactivity on advertising effectiveness. Journal of Advertising, 31(4), 53–64.
Liu, Y., & Shrum, L. J. (2009). A dual-process model of interactivity effects. Journal of Advertising, 38(2), 53–68.
Marsh, H. W., Smith, I. D., & Barnes, J. (1983). Multitrait-multimethod analyses of the Self-Description Questionnaire: Student-teacher agreement on multidimensional ratings of student self-concept. American Educational Research Journal, 20(3), 333–357.
McAndrew, F. T., & Koehnke, S. S. (2016). On the nature of creepiness. New Ideas in Psychology, 43, 10–15.
Mehrabian, A., & Russell, J. (1974). An approach to environmental psychology. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Molesworth, M., Watkins, R., & Denegri-Knott, J. (2016). Possession work on hosted digital consumption objects as consumer ensnarement. The Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, 1(2), 000–000.
Moon, J., Hossain, M. D., Sanders, G. L., Garrity, E. J., & Jo, S. (2013). Player commitment to massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs): An integrated model. International Journal of Electronic Commerce, 17(4), 7–38. https://doi.org/10.2753/JEC1086-4415170401
Moreau, C. P., Bonney, L., & Herd, K. B. (2011). It’s the thought (and the effort) that counts: How customizing for others differs from customizing for oneself. Journal of Marketing, 75(5), 120–133. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkg.75.5.120
Mori, M., MacDorman, K. F., & Kageki, N. (2012). The uncanny valley [from the field]. IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine, 19(2), 98–100.
Ng, I. C. L., & Wakenshaw, S. Y. L. (2017). The internet-of-things: Review and research directions. International Journal of Research in Marketing.
Nielsen, J. (2006). The 90-9-1 rule for participation inequality in social media and online communities. Retrieved from http://www.nngroup.com/articles/participation-inequality/
Norman, D. A. (2013). The design of everyday things: Revised and expanded edition. New York: Basic books.
Orlikowski, W. J. (2000). Using technology and constituting structures: A practice lens for studying technology in organizations. Organization Science, 11(4), 404–428.
Parasuraman, A. (2000). Technology readiness index (TRI). Journal of Service Research, 2(4), 307–320.
Paré, G., Sicotte, C., & Jacques, H. (2006). The effects of creating psychological ownership on physicians’ acceptance of clinical information systems. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 13(2), 197–205.
Peck, J., Barger, V., & Webb, A. (2013). In search of a surrogate for touch: The effect of haptic imagery on perceived ownership. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 23(2), 189–196.
Peck, J., & Shu, S. B. (2009). The effect of mere touch on perceived ownership. Journal of Consumer Research, 36(3), 434–447.
Peng, H., & Pierce, J. L. (2015). Job- and organization-based psychological ownership: relationship and outcomes. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 30(2), 151–168. https://doi.org/10.1108/jmp-07-2012-0201
Pierce, J. L., & Jussila, I. (2010). Collective psychological ownership within the work and organizational context: Construct introduction and elaboration. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 31(6), 810–834.
Pierce, J. L., & Jussila, I. (2011). Psychological ownership and the organizational context: Theory, research evidence and application. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Pierce, J. L., Jussila, I., & Li, D. (2017). Development and validation of an instrument for assessing collective psychological ownership in organizational field settings. Journal of Management & Organization, 1–17.
Pierce, J. L., Kostova, T., & Dirks, K. T. (2003). The state of psychological ownership: Integrating and extending a century of research. Review of general psychology, 7(1), 84.
Pierce, J. L., & Peck, J. (2018). The history of psychological ownership and its emergence in consumer psychology. In J. Peck & S. B. Shu (Eds.), Psychological ownership and consumer behavior (pp. 1–15). New York: Springer.
Pucillo, F., & Cascini, G. (2014). A framework for user experience, needs and affordances. Design Studies, 2, 160. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.destud.2013.10.001
Quain, J. R. (2016, November 10). Giving Today's Car a Well-Tuned Interior. New York Times.
Reeves, B., & Nass, C. (1996). How people treat computers, television, and new media like real people and places. CSLI Publications and Cambridge university press.
Rothbaum, F., Weisz, J. R., & Snyder, S. S. (1982). Changing the world and changing the self: A two-process model of perceived control. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 42(1), 5.
Rubin, T. (2013). Most people are “Lurkers” in social media. Retrieved from http://tedrubin.com/most-people-are-lurkers-in-social-media/
Schlosser, A. E. (2005). Posting versus Lurking: Communicating in a multiple audience context. Journal of Consumer Research, 32(2), 260–265.
Shu, S. B. (2018). Psychological ownership in financial decisions. In J. Peck & S. B. Shu (Eds.), Psychological ownership and consumer behavior (pp. 165–174). New York: Springer.
Shu, S. B., & Peck, J. (2011). Psychological ownership and affective reaction: Emotional attachment process variables and the endowment effect. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 21(4), 439–452.
Shu, S. B., & Peck, J. (2018). Solving stewardship problems with increased psychological ownership. In J. Peck & S. B. Shu (Eds.), Psychological ownership and consumer behavior. New York: Springer.
Sinclair, G., & Tinson, J. (2017). Psychological ownership and music streaming consumption. Journal of Business Research.
Song, J. H., & Zinkhan, G. M. (2008). Determinants of perceived web site interactivity. Journal of Marketing, 72(2), 99–113.
Spears, N., & Yazdanparast, A. (2014). Revealing obstacles to the consumer imagination. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 24(3), 363–372. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcps.2014.01.003
Suessenbach, S., & Kamleitner, B. (2018). Psychological ownership as a facilitator of sustainable behaviors. In J. Peck & S. B. Shu (Eds.), Psychological ownership and consumer behavior (pp. 211–226). New York: Springer.
Swain, S., & Cudmore, B. A. (2016). How players respond to monetary incentives in online poker promotions. Journal of Management and Engineering Integration, 9(1), 93–100.
Tracy, J. L., & Robins, R. W. (2007). The psychological structure of pride: A tale of two facets. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(3), 506.
Valsesia, F., Nunes, J., & Ordo, A. (2016). I got here first! Feelings of psychological ownership and consumer ratings. Paper presented at the Association for Consumer Research Annual Conference, Berlin, Germany.
Von Hippel, E. (2009). Democratizing innovation: the evolving phenomenon of user innovation. International Journal of Innovation Science, 1(1), 29–40.
Voorveld, H. A. M., Neijens, P. C., & Smit, E. G. (2011). The relation between actual and perceived interactivity. Journal of Advertising, 40(2), 77–92.
Wang, Y. J., Minor, M. S., & Wei, J. (2011). Aesthetics and the online shopping environment: Understanding consumer responses. Journal of Retailing, 87(1), 46–58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretai.2010.09.002
Watkins, R., Denegri-Knott, J., & Molesworth, M. (2016). The relationship between ownership and possession: observations from the context of digital virtual goods. Journal of Marketing Management, 32(1–2), 44–70.
Watkins, R., & Molesworth, M. (2012). Attachment to digital virtual possessions in videogames. Research in consumer behavior, 14, 153–171.
Weathers, D., Swain, S., & Grover, V. (2015). Can online product reviews be more helpful? Examining characteristics of information content by product type. Decision Support Systems, 79(November), 12–23.
Weiss, L., & Johar, G. (2013). Egocentric categorization and product judgment: Seeing your traits in what you own (and their opposite in what you don’t). Journal of Consumer Research, 40(June), 185–201.
Weiss, L., & Johar, G. V. (2018). Psychological ownership in egocentric categorization theory. In J. Peck & S. B. Shu (Eds.), Psychological ownership and consumer behavior (pp. 33–49). New York: Springer.
Wiggins, J. (2018). Can consumers perceive collective psychological ownership of an organization? In J. Peck & S. B. Shu (Eds.), Psychological ownership and consumer behavior. New York: Springer.
Yoon, C., Cole, C. A., & Lee, M. P. (2009). Consumer decision making and aging: Current knowledge and future directions. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 19(1), 2–16.
Zhang, J.-Y., Nie, M., Yan, B.-S., & Wang, X.-D. (2014). Effect of network embeddedness on brand-related behavior intentions: Mediating effects of psychological ownership. Social Behavior and Personality: an international journal, 42(5), 721–730.
Zhao, Q., Chen, C.-D., & Wang, J.-L. (2016). The effects of psychological ownership and TAM on social media loyalty: An integrated model. Telematics and Informatics, 33(4), 959–972.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kirk, C.P., Swain, S.D. (2018). Consumer Psychological Ownership of Digital Technology. In: Peck, J., Shu, S. (eds) Psychological Ownership and Consumer Behavior. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77158-8_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77158-8_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-77157-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-77158-8
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)