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Digital transformation and possession attachment: examining the endowment effect for consumers’ relationships with hedonic and utilitarian digital service technologies

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Abstract

A significant body of research has examined the importance of material possession attachment and its influence on consumer behavior. Critical questions, however, remain with regard to the extent to which, and if at all, consumers form instantaneous possession attachment in electronic commerce. In this research, we conducted one quasi-experimental field study and one scenario-based online experiment to examine the endowment effect (EE) for digital services. The current findings demonstrate that consumers become instantaneously attached to and are reluctant to give up digital services once they have obtained them. Two main explanations of the EE in electronic commerce are investigated. Critically, the results show that the psychological processes underlying the effect differ between utilitarian and hedonic digital services. Proprietary feelings towards utilitarian digital services occur due to loss aversion, whereas proprietary feelings towards hedonic digital services reflect the consumer’s conscious self-relatedness to the digital service.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Cologne, Universitätsstraße 24, 50931, Cologne, Germany

    Martin P. Fritze

  2. Imperial College Business School, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London, SW7 2AZ, UK

    Andreas B. Eisingerich

  3. University of Rostock, Ulmenstraße 69, 18057, Rostock, Germany

    Martin Benkenstein

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  1. Martin P. Fritze
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  2. Andreas B. Eisingerich
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  3. Martin Benkenstein
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Correspondence to Martin P. Fritze.

Appendices

Appendix 1: Stimulus for study: “CashHelp”

Appendix 2: Stimulus for study: “TuneFountain”

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Fritze, M.P., Eisingerich, A.B. & Benkenstein, M. Digital transformation and possession attachment: examining the endowment effect for consumers’ relationships with hedonic and utilitarian digital service technologies. Electron Commer Res 19, 311–337 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10660-018-9309-8

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