Toward a Theory of Psychological Ownership in Organizations
Abstract
Building upon the observation that individuals feel ownership toward a variety of targets, we suggest that under certain conditions, organizational members can develop feelings of ownership toward the organization and various organizational factors. We define psychological ownership, identify its “roots” and the primary “routes” through which it develops, and propose certain organizational outcomes. We discuss the conceptual distinctiveness of psychological ownership from a set of related constructs and suggest some theoretical and managerial implications of our theory.
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Ensuring a consumer's right to information and voice in pertinent decisions significantly reduces feelings of vulnerability.
“Moreover, in line with research on psychological ownership (Pierce, Kostova, and Dirks 2001), we show that ensuring a consumer's right to information and voice in pertinent decisions significantly reduces feelings of vulnerability.”
From Unraveling the Personalization Paradox: The Effect of Information Collection and Trust-Building Strategies on Online Advertisement Effectiveness (2015) · cites this paper as Pierce, Kostova, and Dirks 2001
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“Pierce, Kostova, and Dirks (2001) define it as the feeling that something is “mine” [58].”
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- Authors
- Pierce, J. L., Kostova, T., & Dirks, K. T.
- Affiliations
- University of Minnesota, Duluth (US)
- University of South Carolina (US)
- Simon Fraser University (CA)
- Venue
- The Academy of Management Review
- Publisher
- Academy of Management
- Published
- 2001-04
- Volume
- 26
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 298
- ISSN
- 0363-7425 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2102719717
- Cited by
- 2,546
- References
- 77
- Citations by year
- 2026: 284 · 2025: 241 · 2024: 205 · 2023: 217 · 2022: 191 · 2021: 219 · 2020: 149 · 2019: 127 · 2018: 128 · 2017: 106 · 2016: 105 · 2015: 105 · 2014: 75 · 2013: 72 · 2012: 67
- FWCI
- 23.87
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Academy of Management Review (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Job Satisfaction and Organizational Behavior
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Management and Organizational Studies
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Keywords
- psychological ownership, organizational commitment, organizational identification, organizational outcomes, employee attitudes
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