EXPRESS: Psychological Ownership and Territorial Behaviors in Rental Transactions: Why “Who” You Rent from Matters

Abstract

The phenomenal growth in rentals, with the advent of access-based platforms, has made it possible for consumers to rent products from person providers (e.g., Alex on Airbnb) and company providers (e.g., Apex Vacations on Airbnb). But does “who” a consumer rents from matter? Across nine experiments (including one with real behaviors), we demonstrate that despite the product being the same, consumers differ in how they feel about the product depending on “who” they are renting from. Consumers feel stronger psychological ownership for the product when renting from company providers than person providers. These feelings of psychological ownership drive consumers to engage in “territorial” behaviors – actions that assert their claim on the rented product ( e.g. , moving furniture in a rental cabin). Consequently, consumers are more willing to exhibit such behaviors when renting from company providers than person providers. These behaviors impose real costs on rental providers through increased operational burdens and property damage, as exemplified through additional analyses of providers’comments on Airbnb’s community platform and interviews with providers. We further identify strategies to mitigate consumers’ territorial behaviors by altering consumers’ feelings of psychological ownership through its antecedent in the rental context: provider’s connection to the rental product.