SummaryThe construct collective psychological ownership is introduced. Reflecting the psychology of ''us'' and ''ours,'' collective psychological ownership emerges through interactive dynamics whereby individuals come to a single and shared mind-set as it relates to a sense of ownership for a particular object. After providing a conceptual definition for the construct, we turn our attention to a detailed elaboration of the construct, offering comments on its genesis, emergent context, underlying motives, and a discussion of what can and cannot be owned. We also provide a discussion of the dynamics associated with its formation, highlighting the paths down which groups travel that influence the emergence of this psychological state. Next, we turn our attention to the emergence of collective psychological ownership within the organizational and teamwork context paying particular attention to the role of work environment structure. We conclude with a discussion of a set of work-related attitudinal, motivational, behavioral, and stress-related outcomes that stem from this psychological state.

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SummaryIn this paper, we offer a theoretical modification to the Hackman and Oldham (1975) Job Characteristics Model by integrating research on the psychological aspects of job design with emerging theory on psychological ownership. We develop the connection between job design and (a) the motives facilitating psychological ownership, (b) the routes through which psychological ownership emerges, and (c) the individual-level outcomes (e.g., emotional, attitudinal, motivational, and behavioral) that result from an employee's psychological ownership of his or her job. Our work covers several previously ignored positive and negative effects. We conclude by positioning psychological ownership as a plausible substitute for other proposed mediating psychological states in the job design-employee response relationship.

Recently, there emerged a theory of collective psychological ownership – an intersubjective sense of possession for different objects within the work and organizational context (e.g., work space). This shared mind-set has been cast as having the potential to explain a variety of collective, work-related attitudes, and actions. Preventing scientific inquiry into this phenomenon is the absence of an instrument for the measurement of this construct. The purpose of this work was the development and validation of such an instrument. To this end, work with a panel of judges and three sequentially conducted field studies was undertaken. Construct validation evidence (e.g., content, discriminant, nomological, and incremental validity) for an instrument for the assessment of collective psychological ownership is provided.

Affective member commitment is seen as an essential ingredient for sustainable and successful co-operation. It provides co-operatives with flexibility and helps to alleviate the problems of free-riding, property rights, and horizon differences. The importance of affective commitment is highlighted as co-operatives face the challenges of an increasingly globalized business environment. Co-operatives need to promote their members' desire to remain as members and active users of the organization they own. In this paper, we review extant co-operative literature on members' affective commitment and develop proposals on the sources of this type of commitment within a co-operative context. Hence, the focus of this paper is on the sources rather than the outcomes of affective commitment. Affective commitment is explained through three theoretical frameworks, namely organizational identification, organization-based self-esteem, and psychological ownership. Linkages are identified and a theoretical model is presented. Our work creates value for future research and practice of co-operation by summarizing extant knowledge on the sources of affective commitment, specifying previously unspecified relationships, and identifying avenues for future research.