A study of psychological ownership in different stages of access-based fashion consumption

Alkaffary, Bader 2022. A study of psychological ownership in different stages of access-based fashion consumption. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University. Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

Access-based consumption (ABC) is becoming an increasingly prevalent form of consumption. Prior research has demonstrated that users may experience psychological ownership (PO) of access-based items (ABIs). However, it produced inconsistent and contradictory findings on how users come to experience PO towards ABIs, ignoring the role of possession rituals (PRs) in exploring feeling of ownership in ABC. This thesis aims to understand whether and how PO manifests itself in ABC, how users achieve this sense of PO over ABIs, and how feelings of PO influence users’ interactions with ABIs. Focusing on the users of US-based access-based fashion platform Rent the Runway (RTR), this study adopts a multi-method qualitative approach, combining netnography, semi-structured interviews and visual ethnography. The findings provide new insights into how PO is experienced in ABC, identifying two distinct but interrelated forms of PO experienced by participants - temporary PO and quasi-PO. Temporary PO is a sense of ownership wherein one feels that a physical item is temporarily ‘mine’ during possession whilst quasi-PO refers to sense of ownership that users experience with digital representation of an item, even when they do not possess its physical counterpart. Furthermore, the study explores the PRs performed by consumers pre-access, during access and post-access in order to create and sustain these interrelated forms of PO. Lastly, the study identifies key outcomes (such as responsibility, pride and enduring ownership reduction) of PO that influence the user–item relationship. This study therefore contributes to literature on ABC and to wider literature on PO, highlighting variations in how PO can be experienced. Additionally, it presents managerial recommendations to assist managers of ABC services in making their ABIs better candidates for development of PO by facilitating PRs.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	Business (Including Economics)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Access-based consumption, psychological ownership, possession ritual, sharing economy, and feelings of ownership
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	20 December 2022
Last Modified:	06 Jan 2024 04:50
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/155029

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