Effects of Haptic Imagery and Effectance Motivation on Psychological Ownership
Sayo Iseki, Shinji Kitagami · Transactions of Japan Society of Kansei Engineering · 2018
Just imagining touching an object (i.e., haptic imagery) has been found to increase psychological ownership for an object. Our previous study revealed that purchase intention also increases as psychological ownership increases via perceived control promoted by haptic imagery. Then, how can the effect of haptic imagery on psychological ownership be promoted more? In this study, we investigated whether this effect could be promoted when effectance motivation is high. Effectance motivation is the motivation to feel competent to change the environment as a result of their activities and getting a sense of control. This study showed the following. Although only for objects that were actually touched previously, when effectance motivation is high, haptic imagery directly increased psychological ownership and this effect was fully mediated by perceived control. This study gives great suggestions in understanding consumer behavior when objects cannot be touched (e.g., online shopping).