Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0009-0007-0937-186X

Semester

Spring

Date of Graduation

2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Type

DBA

College

Chambers College of Business and Economics

Department

Marketing

Committee Chair

Julian Givi

Committee Co-Chair

Colleen Kirk

Committee Member

Annie Cui

Committee Member

JoNell Strough

Abstract

People often borrow everyday items, such as a friend’s jacket or pair of sunglasses, and after a period of use, may begin to feel as if the item is their own. Psychological ownership captures this felt sense of “mine,” even in the absence of legal ownership, and reflects the extent to which a target becomes incorporated into the self (Pierce et al., 2003). Despite decades of work on psychological ownership, little is known about how psychological ownership develops and changes within interpersonal lending and borrowing contexts. This dissertation examines how possession duration influences psychological ownership in interpersonal borrowing relationships and investigates downstream consequences for borrowers. Studies 1 and 2 find that borrowers’ psychological ownership increases as possession duration lengthens, whereas lenders do not show an equivalent decrease in psychological ownership over time. Study 3 further reveals that longer possession increases borrowers’ purchase intentions and willingness to pay for the borrowed item, with psychological ownership mediating these effects. This work extends psychological ownership theory by identifying possession duration as an important antecedent of psychological ownership and demonstrating that psychological ownership can strengthen through temporary possession when legal ownership remains unchanged. The findings also offer practical implications for interpersonal borrowing and related temporary possession contexts by suggesting that longer possession durations can increase borrowers’ valuation and purchase intentions, and that the return stage may provide an opportunity to increase the likelihood that borrowers purchase the item.

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