Value-Enhancing Effects of Psychological Ownership on Consumers’ Mental Accounting:

Measurement and Analysis of WTP and WTA When Payment Methods Can Be Selected

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of consumers’ psychological ownership of payment methods on their choice of paying, WTP and WTA. Two experiments were conducted focusing on two types of payment methods (cash and mobile payment). In Experiment 1, we asked participants to read a fictitious purchase scenario, and verified that the payment method with lower psychological ownership is likely to be selected at the point of purchase, resulting in higher WTP. In Experiment 2, participants were assigned to read two of four fictitious buying and selling scenarios, and we verified that the payment method with the higher psychological ownership is likely to be selected at the point of receipt, resulting in lower WTA.