Psychological Ownership: How Having Control Matters

Abstract

The study builds a cross-level work process control-based model of psychological ownership in a Chinese context. We operationalize individual-level control as participative decision-making and unit-level control as the self-managing team climate. We further theorize how the value orientation of employees to power differentials moderates the mediating effects of psychological ownership on the relationship between the two levels of control and employee outcomes. We found that the positive effects of control experiences on some outcomes are mediated by psychological ownership. Additionally, power distance moderates the mediating role of psychological ownership. Our results suggest that, in order to cultivate the positive effects of perceived control on employee contributions, managers should pay attention to employees high in power distance since these individuals are reluctant to exercise control. Training or encouraging these individuals to participate in decision making may help them cultivate the positive feelings of psychological ownership.

Determinants of Constructive Deviance: The Mediator Role of Psychological Ownership

“…Past researches indicate that psychological ownership is an attitude that has some positive effects on organizations (i.e. job satisfaction, performance, extra-role behavior, commitment, and reduced negative behaviors) (Pierce et al, 1992;Liu et al, 2012;Pierce et al, 2004;Avey et al, 2009;Sieger et al, 2013). Of course, psychological ownership has already been studied as mediator in past researches (see Table 1).…”

“…After the aforementioned explanations, we can say that the concept of psychological ownership has been widely studied in recent literature (Liu et al, 2012;Mayhew et al, 2007;Özler et al, 2008;Pierce et al, 2003Pierce et al, , 2004Sieger et al, 2011Sieger et al, , 2013. However, its relation to constructive deviant behaviors is rarely studied (Chung & Moon, 2011).…”

“…Although poor level of it has undesirable effects on organizations such as; alienation, low-level performance (Aiken & Hage, 1966;Allen & LaFollette, 1977;Black & Gregersen, 1997), high-level participation decision-making is also related to the some positive effects on organizations (i.e. organizational citizenship behavior, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, organization-based self-esteem) (Porter et al, 1996;Black & Gregersen, 1997;Wagner et al, 2003;Bulut and Alpkan, 2006;Gilbert et al, 2010;Liu et al, 2012;Sieger et al, 2011). Additionally, there are also studies indicating the positive effects of it on employees (i.e.…”

Job- and organization-based psychological ownership: relationship and outcomes

“…There may, however, be those occasions when there exists some contextual control behaviors exercised at the organization-level (e.g., constructively criticizing the status quo) that reflects direct control over the organization, yet that control is unlikely to result in any substantive increase in the amount of control exercised over the job. Thus, job control is seen as the primary form of control that the employee exercises in and over the organization (Liu, Wang, Hui, and Lee, 2012).…”

Relationships between teacher value orientations, collegiality, and collaboration in school professional learning communities

“…According to Hofstede (2001), there are generally greater acceptances for inequalities and differences in status in high power distance societies and organizations, whilst in low power distance societies and organizations the inequalities and differences in status are less explicit. Past organizational research studies have found that high power distance individuals tend to be more comfortable working in teams with strong leadership and top-down communication and decision-making, but low power distance individuals tend to prefer working in autonomous and self-directed teams where every member is treated as equal regardless of status or position and decision-making is by consensus and more collegial (Earley and Erez 1997;Kirkman and Shapiro 1997;Liu et al 2012). In relation to work team interaction, research has also indicated that high power distance individuals tend not to have the same communication effectiveness as lower power distance individuals (Xie et al 2009) and are also less likely to question those with higher status and power (Earley 1999).…”