Experiencing Shared and Individual Ownership of Products and Services

Abstract

This article aims to address paradoxes between experiencing products and services on a shared basis versus owning or having the sole proprietary privilege to consume them. A value creation perspective will be given on how to exploit these “use” and “ownership” of experiences and objects in the design of products and services. Results indicate that “pure ownership” of products and services as a stand alone phenomenon is void. Functional and emotional experiences with these products and services are essential to contextualise and construct the meaning of appropriation/ ownership. With respect to the different value propositions, a significant number of users who aimed for shared ownership of utilitarian experiences, because of economical reasons, were critical of what is being offered to them from a usability and psychological perspective. Users, who had satisfactory experiences with facets of the offering; product, service or combination of it, experienced them within the context of full ownership.