Engaging users in the sharing economy: Individual and collective psychological ownership as antecedents to actor engagement

Purpose: This conceptual study explicates the dynamic, interlinked relationship between two of the most popular theories in marketing today – psychological ownership (PO) and engagement. The study is set in the sharing economy (SE), where platform business success depends on high levels of engagement by users – both individuals and collectives. The study argues individual PO acts as the antecedent to engagement within a dyad of brand and user, and collective PO as the antecedent to collective engagement by communities of users.

Design/methodology/approach: This conceptual study synthesizes PO theory and engagement theory to produce a PO-Engagement Framework. We adopt a dual-level perspective encompassing individual- and group-level phenomena in the SE and employ examples from practice to illustrate our arguments.

Findings: PO acts as the antecedent to the positively valenced disposition and engagement activities of actors in the SE. Individual PO manifests as engagement within a dyad of brand and user. Outcomes include brand love and contributions to brand reputation and service offerings. Collective PO manifests as engagement within a community or collective. Outcomes include community-oriented peer-to-peer sharing for the benefit of others.

Originality/value: This study offers a dynamic framework of PO and engagement in the SE, the PO-Engagement Framework. We contribute to PO and engagement literatures in marketing by illustrating how a platform user’s attachment to targets in the SE motivates emergence of PO, and how different types of engagement manifest from different types of PO.