Psychological Ownership: The Mediating Effects of Participative Decision-Making on Employees

Psychological Ownership: The Mediating Effects of Participative Decision-Making on Employees’ Attitudes and Identification Towards the Organization

Paul A. Kuffel | 2018

Abstract

The possessions we choose to surround ourselves with in the workplace can influence the way we think not only about ourselves but how we think about the people around us (Dittmar, 1992). Employees create relationships with objects through a conscious owning and/or through a physical possession of the object(s) or felt as a relationship between person and nonphysical entities such as ideas, words, artistic creations, as well as other people (Pierce, Kostova, & Dirks, 2001). Expanding this knowledge of employee ownership in the workplace can offer leaders a route towards creating a more effective culture supporting and motivating workers as effective members of the organization. This study advances the psychological ownership literature by examining the effects of employee ownership in three ways: (a) looking at the effects of employees’ taking part in the decision-making process as a mediator of the relationship between psychological ownership and employee perceived control, (b) the effects of employees being part of the decision-making process as a mediator of the relationship between psychological ownership and organizational identification, and (c) evaluating the mediating effect of participative decision-making on the relationship between psychological ownership and perceived control and organizational identification. This study is important for leaders to help understand different factors motivating employees in the workplace. This study explored the relationship between psychological ownership, perceived control, and organizational identification when mediated by participative decision-making in a sample of U.S. government employees (N = 82). The results indicate that psychological ownership positively influences perceived control, and participative decision-making mediates the positive influence on perceived control. No significant relationship was found between psychological ownership and organizational identification or influence of the mediator in the relationship between the variables. It concludes with a discussion of the theoretical and practical implications of these findings, along with study limitations and recommendations for future research. This research helps to build a better picture for helping to understand how ownership and involvement in decision-making influences employees in the workplace.