Caring for the Commons: Using Psychological Ownership to Enhance Stewardship Behavior for Public Goods

TLDR

The authors investigate how to encourage consumers to better care for public goods, proposing simple interventions for consumers, practitioners, and policymakers. They argue that psychological ownership heightens perceived responsibility, which in turn motivates active stewardship behavior. Across four studies—including field experiments and real‑world observations—enhancing psychological ownership increases both effortful stewardship (e.g., picking up trash) and financial stewardship (e.g., donations), though the effect diminishes when responsibility cues diffuse responsibility among many.

Abstract

How can consumers be encouraged to take better care of public goods? Across four studies, including two experiments in the field and three documenting actual behaviors, the authors demonstrate that increasing consumers’ individual psychological ownership facilitates stewardship of public goods. This effect occurs because feelings of ownership increase consumers’ perceived responsibility, which then leads to active behavior to care for the good. Evidence from a variety of contexts, including a public lake with kayakers, a state park with skiers, and a public walking path, suggests that increasing psychological ownership enhances both effortful stewardship, such as picking up trash from a lake, and financial stewardship, such as donating money. This work further demonstrates that the relationship between psychological ownership and resulting stewardship behavior is attenuated when there are cues, such as an attendance sign, which diffuse responsibility among many people. This work offers implications for consumers, practitioners, and policy makers with simple interventions that can encourage consumers to be better stewards of public goods.