Psychological Ownership of Arts Experiences

Jennifer Wiggins

Jennifer Wiggins is Professor of Marketing and Entrepreneurship at Kent State University and Co-Editor in Chief of the International Journal of Arts Management. Her research focuses on consumers’ development of psychological ownership, consumption of arts experiences, and willingness to fund arts and social ventures.

ABSTRACT
This article introduces the construct of psychological ownership, the feeling that a target, or a part of that target, is “mine,” to the arts consumption literature. I suggest that the features of experiential consumption identified by Holbrook and Hirschman (1982) create both a challenge and an opportunity for the arts to inspire the development of consumer psychological ownership. Specifically, arts experiences have the potential to fulfill multiple needs that underlie psychological ownership, particularly the relatively understudied need for stimulation. I describe multiple routes via which consumers can develop both individual psychological ownership of arts experiences and collective psychological ownership of artists and arts organizations. Finally, I offer suggestions for how arts organizations can engage with consumers to enhance the development of psychological ownership, enabling them to gain access to the many beneficial outcomes of consumer psychological ownership for both the consumer and the organization.
KEYWORDS
Psychological Ownership; Experiential Consumption; Arts Experiences