The effect of message framing on security behavior in online services: Focusing on the shift of time orientation via psychological ownership

Researcher in the fields of business management, marketing and consumer studies have become increasingly interested in psychological ownership, expanding beyond the previous focus on the organizational context and into the online context. This study was designed to verify the outcomes of psychological ownership experienced by an individual in an online environment and to examine how psychological ownership affects an individual's way of thinking. Specifically, we conducted one study that focuses on the behavior of protecting personal information online and analyzes the interaction between level of psychological ownership regarding an online service (high vs. low) and the method of framing the message (gain vs. loss). The results showed that, among users with a high degree of psychological ownership regarding the online service, messages with gain framing were more effective than loss framed ones, whereas, among users with low psychological ownership, loss framed messages were more effective than gain framed ones. The second study took the perspective of user information processing; it was designed to verify that psychological ownership can change an individual's time orientation. With psychological ownership fixed at a consistent level, we evaluated the interaction between time orientation (past-oriented vs. future-oriented) and the method of framing the message (gain vs. loss). We found that, in online services, past-oriented users were more effectively targeted by gain framed messages than by loss framed ones to influence the user's password-changing behavior. Conversely, among future-oriented users, loss framed messages were more effective than gain framed ones in influencing the user's password-changing behavior. •Psychological ownership affects an individual's way of thinking.•Psychological ownership determines the effective message framing strategy.•Psychological ownership changes an individual's time orientation.•Psychological ownership leads individuals to have a past-vs. future-oriented view.•Individual's time-orientation determines the effective message framing strategy.