Collective Psychological Ownership:

Applicability to Research in Marketing

Abstract

The concept of individual psychological ownership, or an individual’s sense of ownership toward an object, was proposed in the context of organizational theory in the early 2000s. Since then, this concept has been widely applied in marketing research, since it led to marketing outcomes such as increased purchase intention and willingness to pay for the product. In addition, the concept of collective psychological ownership—a group’s sense of ownership toward an object—was proposed outside the marketing field. It has been suggested that this concept may have different consequences from those of individual psychological ownership with regard to issues such as organizational effectiveness. However, there are few studies that attempt to apply this concept to the marketing field. This paper reviews studies on individual and collective psychological ownership and examines the possibility that collective psychological ownership may be applicable in marketing research on consumer community and experiential consumption.