Access-based services as substitutes for material possessions: the role of psychological ownership
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Fritze, Martin
Marchand, Andre
Eisingerich, Andreas
Benkenstein, Martin
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Access-based services—in which consumers do not physically own material goods but gainaccess to services by registering with the provider—have risenin popularityas an alternative to individual ownership and conventional consumption.Yet,companies still face key challenges in promoting theseservices. Prior research indicates that consumersassign significant importance to their material possessions; the current study investigates how psychological ownership, or the mental state of perceiving something as one’s own, attainedthrough access-based services might lead customers toincrease their service useand forgomaterial ownershipand consumption. With four studies,using cross-sectional, longitudinal, and experimental data, as well as combined self-reportswith usage data,we theorize and demonstrate this effect. Firms that offer access-based services can increase customers’ service psychologicalownership, which acts as a psychological substitute for physical ownership and increases access-based service use. The results suggest ways managers can leverage the psychological power of ownershipfeelings,rather than try to fight the lackof actual ownership,in access-based consumptioncontexts.
Date Issued
2020-08-01
Date Acceptance
2020-01-13
Citation
Journal of Service Research, 2020, 23 (3), pp.368-385
ISSN
1094-6705
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Start Page
368
End Page
385
Journal / Book Title
Journal of Service Research
Volume
23
Issue
3
Copyright Statement
©The Author(s) 2020. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
License URL
Subjects
Social Sciences
Business
Business & Economics
access-based services
psychological ownership
material ownership reduction
sharing economy
SYMBOLIC SELF-COMPLETION
COMMON METHOD BIAS
BRAND COMMUNITY
IDENTITY
MUSIC
CONSUMPTION
CUSTOMERS
VALIDITY
CONTEXT
ATTACHMENT
Marketing
1504 Commercial Services
1505 Marketing
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2020-03-13