Experiential goods and consumer misbehavior. The role of psychological ownership.

This study examines the presence and extent of misbehavior when consumers are offered the option of using postponed payment plans after purchasing experiential goods. It does so by looking at how the nature of the product, paired with payment type, affects its perceived psychological ownership that, in turn, influences consumers’ misbehavior. Through three experimental studies, we measure the role played by the type of good (experiential vs. material) in explaining consumers’ misbehavior. We also test the mediation role of psychological ownership. Results indicate that, when consuming experiential (vs. material) goods, consumers are more likely to misbehave, and this effect is greater in the case of postponed payment than immediate payment (i.e. cash). Findings show that psychological ownership also makes up part of the psychological mechanism behind consumers’ misbehavior. To our knowledge, no previous research has investigated whether the intrinsic characteristics of goods (experiential vs. material) and the type of payment (immediate vs. postponed) explain consumers’ misbehavior. On the managerial side, we propose guidance on how psychological ownership may be strengthened in the case of experiential goods.