A Typology of users Psychological Ownership and Engagement in the Sharing Economy

In the sharing economy, where value is actualised through sharing and gaining access to assets, how customers develop and experience psychological ownership (PO) needs further investigation. Understanding the PO that individuals associate with their possessions and how they develop a strong attachment during resource sharing with other customers is of interest. To date, the concept of PO in virtual engagement platforms or online-community services has not been explored, yet it is customers’ perceptions of PO, and the degree to which platform users contribute their own resources, that provides the point of differentiation with more traditional businesses. However, understanding a customer’s PO and their investment of resources (e.g. time, commitment to ratings systems, investment of knowledge and skills), and how this manifests in the sharing economy is lacking. This paper examines the role of PO, collective PO (cPO), and customer engagement to develop a typology of customers involved in the sharing economy. This knowledge will assist in developing strategies for generating relational trust and commitment (Yang et al., 2017), and goodwill, accountability or loyalty among strangers collaborating on sharing platforms. This conceptual study draws on the literature of PO, the sharing economy, and customer engagement.