Psychology of ownership versus renting: Brief research review

Thomas Johnson, Sunita Gupta and Catalin Barboianu ()
Additional contact information
Catalin Barboianu: UniBuc - University of Bucharest

Working Papers from HAL

Abstract: Ownership encompasses psychological, social, and identity-related dimensions that significantly influence how humans interact with objects and systems. In contrast, renting or borrowing removes many of these antecedents; while renting provides access to functionality, it often fails to provide long-term attachment, identity reinforcement, or moral engagement with the object. This dichotomy was investigated within a psychological framework and the rise of the sharing economy has made it particularly salient. The current review synthesizes theoretical and empirical findings from multiple domains contributing to the exploration of the psychological mechanisms differentiating ownership from rental or borrowing. It integrates insights from behavioral economics, consumer psychology, organizational behavior, and sustainability studies. The review also identifies gaps, research limitations, and directions for future inquiry, emphasizing how the investigated concepts operate as a lens for understanding identity, behavior, and well-being in modern consumption contexts.

Keywords: psychology of ownership; ownership versus borrowing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-11-26
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-05383120v1
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://hal.science/hal-05383120v1/document (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-05383120

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD ().