Psychological intervention

Marketing

Feeling

Engineering

Public good

Microeconomics

Social psychology

Variety (cybernetics)

Public relations

Psychiatry

Tragedy of the commons

Economics

Computer science

Business

Commons

Mechanical engineering

Environmental stewardship

Psychology

Politics

Political science

Public economics

Environmental resource management

Work (physics)

Artificial intelligence

Stewardship (theology)

Journal of Marketing

How can consumers be encouraged to take better care of public goods? Across four studies, including two experiments in the field and three documenting actual behaviors, the authors demonstrate that increasing consumers’ individual psychological ownership facilitates stewardship of public goods. This effect occurs because feelings of ownership increase consumers’ perceived responsibility, which then leads to active behavior to care for the good. Evidence from a variety of contexts, including a public lake with kayakers, a state park with skiers, and a public walking path, suggests that increasing psychological ownership enhances both effortful stewardship, such as picking up trash from a lake, and financial stewardship, such as donating money. This work further demonstrates that the relationship between psychological ownership and resulting stewardship behavior is attenuated when there are cues, such as an attendance sign, which diffuse responsibility among many people. This work offers implications for consumers, practitioners, and policy makers with simple interventions that can encourage consumers to be better stewards of public goods.

Caring for the Commons: Using Psychological Ownership to Enhance Stewardship Behavior for Public Goods