Owning the (Virtual) World: A Systematic Review of Psychological Ownership of Interactive Virtual Objects and Environments

Research Background and Problem

• What problems or challenges did the authors identify?
  Psychological Ownership describes the sense of possession one feels toward an object, independent of legal ownership. Although this concept originated in organizational management, its manifestation in virtual objects and environments remains in its early stages of research. Additionally, the authors pointed out that the practical impact of ownership of digital goods and virtual objects on user behavior, product value assessment, and purchase intention has not been systematically studied.

• Why is this issue important?
  Users are investing significant amounts of money in virtual goods and experiences, and psychological ownership plays a critical role in influencing user satisfaction, retention, and purchase intentions. With the rapid development of technologies such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), understanding how psychological ownership functions in virtual environments can help optimize user experience design and create richer interactive ecosystems.

• Research Motivation and Related Work
  Inspired by classical theories of psychological ownership, the authors focused on exploring its applicability to virtual objects and environments, integrating it with existing Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) theories. While previous research in organizational management and marketing has established the importance of psychological ownership, the specific mechanisms and effects in interactive virtual environments remain underexplored.

Solution

• What methods or solutions did the authors propose?
  The authors conducted a systematic review following the PRISMA guidelines to summarize the influencing factors of psychological ownership in virtual objects and environments (e.g., control, self-identity) and its potential impacts.

• What are the innovative aspects of this solution?

  1. Extending psychological ownership theory from traditional organizational and marketing domains to virtual and augmented reality technology environments.
  2. Proposing a conceptual model that integrates the classical roots of psychological ownership with specific influencing factors in virtual scenarios, serving as a guide for future design and research.
  3. Identifying new variables such as interactivity, immersion, and object attributes, emphasizing their role in fostering psychological ownership in virtual environments.

• What are the implementation steps? What key techniques were used?

  1. Literature screening: Defined the scope of "interactive virtual environments" and "virtual objects," and collected relevant studies using seven sets of keywords from databases such as ACM Digital Library and ScienceDirect.
  2. Systematically analyzed 21 studies to identify antecedents of psychological ownership (e.g., control, self-investment, object attributes) and consequences (e.g., purchase intention, retention).
  3. Developed an integrative psychological ownership model that includes the three core motivations from classical theory—control, self-identity, and sense of belonging—while incorporating virtual-specific factors like immersion and interaction patterns.

Research Findings

• What specific findings were achieved?

  1. Factors influencing psychological ownership: Identified factors such as control, object attributes, immersion, and self-investment as key contributors to psychological ownership. Interactivity and customization were particularly important variables.
  2. Consequences of psychological ownership: Analysis showed that psychological ownership enhances users' perceived value of virtual goods, purchase intentions, well-being, comfort in decision-making, and future usage intentions. Additionally, moderate levels of psychological ownership were found to potentially increase the risk of addictive behaviors.
  3. Measurement methods: Found significant variation in measurement tools across studies. Some used classical scales (e.g., Peck and Shu's scale), while others preferred self-developed scales or qualitative interview methods.

• What advantages does it have compared to existing solutions?
  The authors' systematic review pioneers a comprehensive exploration of psychological ownership in the context of virtual reality and augmented reality, providing a theoretical foundation and practical guidance for the HCI field. Compared to traditional ownership theories, this study better explains phenomena unique to virtual environments (e.g., virtual customization, virtual identity transfer).

• What were the experimental or evaluation results?
  The study systematically summarized key findings from the reviewed literature:

  • Augmented reality technology enhances consumers' psychological ownership of virtual goods, thereby increasing purchase tendencies (e.g., product evaluation, perceived value).
  • Personalized and interactive designs stimulate self-efficacy and psychological ownership.
  • The research revealed potential negative effects, such as tension related to copyright control and moderate risks of gaming addiction.

• Limitations and Future Directions

  1. Current research lacks sufficient exploration of psychological ownership in VR, with a greater focus on AR scenarios.
  2. Insufficient systematic exploration of the negative effects of psychological ownership, such as tension caused by loss of control in multi-user collaborative scenarios.
  3. Future research is encouraged to more broadly compare the similarities and differences between virtual and digital ownership, with a focus on the specific mechanisms of self-identity and sense of belonging in virtual experiences.

Conclusion

This paper integrates existing research on the development of psychological ownership in virtual environments and proposes a framework model to advance the design and study of virtual environments. Through detailed analysis of the motivations and pathways of psychological ownership, this review provides inspiration for designers and researchers in virtual reality and augmented reality technologies, while also highlighting research gaps and future directions in the field.