Impact of psychological ownership on customer citizenship behaviour in the sharing economy

Abstract

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: This paper aims to explore the effects of customers’ psychological ownership of shared products on customer citizenship behaviour in the sharing economy. This study hypothesizes that customer-company identification can increase consumers’ psychological ownership of shared products in the absence of legal ownership, thereby promoting customer citizenship behaviour. This study asserts that psychological ownership plays a mediating role in the relationship between customer-company identification and customer citizenship behaviour based on social identity theory. We explore the moderating role of consumers’ proactive personalities in the sharing economy. METHODS: A questionnaire including the following was constructed: customer-company identification, psychological ownership, customer citizenship behaviour, and proactive personality. We administered the online consumer questionnaire in China to investigate the factors that affect consumer behavioural intentions in the sharing economy. RESULTS: First, based on a sample of 326 participants, the results suggest that both customer-company identification and psychological ownership are positively related to customer citizenship behaviour. Second, psychological ownership partially mediates the relationship between customer-company identification and customer citizenship behaviour. Third, proactive personality moderates the relationship between customer-company identification and customer citizenship behaviour. CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight the importance of psychological ownership in promoting customer citizenship behaviour in the sharing economy.