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Payment method and perceptions of ownership

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  • Bernadette Kamleitner
  • Berna Erki

Abstract

How consumers pay influences how they feel about a transaction. In particular, paying by card has been argued to have an effect on the perception of cost, making it less salient and painful. We propose and show that payment method also influences how consumers feel about the acquired good. Specifically, we focus on effects of the payment method on psychological ownership, i.e., the perception of an object as “mine.” We propose that cash payment results in stronger psychological ownership because it influences the extent of perceived investment in an object. We provide evidence for the proposed effect from field and laboratory settings. Results of a longitudinal exit survey and an experiment show that cash payers report higher levels of immediate psychological ownership than card payers. However, this effect seems to depend on the meanings associated with a payment method. Asian students (who associate credit card payment with investment and debt) do not exhibit this effect. Moreover, the initial boost in psychological ownership seems to be comparably short-lived. While those paying in cash experience no further increase in psychological ownership over time, those paying by card do. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2013

Suggested Citation

  • Bernadette Kamleitner & Berna Erki, 2013. "Payment method and perceptions of ownership," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 57-69, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:mktlet:v:24:y:2013:i:1:p:57-69
    DOI: 10.1007/s11002-012-9203-4
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    Cited by:

    1. Yizhao Jiang, 2022. "The Influence of Payment Method: Do Consumers Pay More with Mobile Payment?," Papers 2210.14631, arXiv.org.
    2. Kamleitner, Bernadette & Dickert, Stephan, 2015. "The two faces of ownership: Introduction to the special section on ownership and economic decisions," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 159-161.
    3. Ashby, Rhys & Sharifi, Shahin & Yao, Jun & Ang, Lawrence, 2025. "The influence of the buy-now-pay-later payment mode on consumer spending decisions," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 101(1), pages 103-119.
    4. Khan, Jashim & Belk, Russell W. & Craig-Lees, Margaret, 2015. "Measuring consumer perceptions of payment mode," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 34-49.
    5. Kokkoris, Michail D. & Hoelzl, Erik & Kamleitner, Bernadette, 2020. "Self-found, spellbound: The sense of own discovery shapes customer bonds with service venues," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 303-316.
    6. Batiz-Lazo, Bernardo & Maixe-Altes, J Carles & Peon, David, 2023. "Behavioral drivers of cashless payments in Africa," MPRA Paper 117984, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Xu, Xiaobing & Chen, Rong & Jiang, Lan, 2020. "The Influence of Payment Mechanisms on Pricing: When Mental Imagery Stimulates Desire for Money," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 96(2), pages 178-188.
    8. Kirk, Colleen P., 2019. "Dogs have masters, cats have staff: Consumers' psychological ownership and their economic valuation of pets," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 306-318.
    9. Wang, Ziwei & Wei, Xia & Tang, Xiaomeng, 2024. "The effects of QR-pay scanning modes on consumer product evaluations," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    10. Nicole Koschate-Fischer & Katharina Wüllner, 2017. "New developments in behavioral pricing research," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 87(6), pages 809-875, August.
    11. Mohammed Hazzouri & Kelley J. Main, 2018. "The effect of control priming on irresponsible financial behavior," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 29(2), pages 207-223, June.
    12. Dalla Costa, Aldo Fortunato & Mollica, Vito & Singh, Abhay, 2021. "Payment methods and the disposition effect: Evidence from Indonesian mutual fund trading," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(C).
    13. Hassan, Louise M. & Shiu, Edward, 2015. "The moderating role of national cultural values in smoking cessation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(10), pages 2173-2180.

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