Investigating the Concept of Psychological Ownership from the Buyers’ Perspective

Objective Given the relative impact and effectiveness of psychological ownership among the buyers on customer satisfaction, loyalty, word-of-mouth advertising, and willingness to pay more, there are very only a few studies that are generally based on customer control over goods or services. Hence, it is difficult to respond to the reason and conditions for the creation of a sense of psychological ownership. This study, based on a qualitative approach, aims to determine the factors and conditions which develop a sense of mental ownership towards a company among the buyers. The researchers attempt to address the following questions: What concepts should organizations develop in order to form a sense of mental or psychological ownership among the buyers? What conditions are necessary for the formation of a sense of psychological ownership among the buyers? Methodology The present qualitative study is exploratory in terms of certainty of information and is applied in terms of purpose. Various aspects of the concept of psychological ownership will be described and explained from the buyers’s perspective using grounded data theory. The statistical population of the study consists of Iranian industrial companies and the interviewees and industry and university experts were selected for the interview using the non-probabilistic sampling method. According to grounded theory approach, three coding steps were used in the present study: open coding, axial coding and selective coding for data analysis. The analytical tool of paradigm was used in all the stages of the research, from the beginning to the formation of the theory which includes the conditions, interaction and consequences. In addition, MAXQDA software was used to organize the findings. Findings 10 main components and 27 sub-components were extracted and presented in the form of a theoretical model based on the grounded theory approach. The findings of the present study highlighted the determining concepts of buyers’ psychological ownership. Besides, the identification and conceptualization of various effective variables were emphasized. Conclusion According to the results of the identification of the conditions for the formation of psychological ownership from the buyers’ perspective in the present study, the final model shows that, in a holistic view, various aspects in manufacturing companies, especially the choice of structure of the product characteristics and company policies, the characteristic