To Acquire or Not to Acquire?  That is a Question of Ownership Language and Dispositional Greed

Kim, Myojoong

To Acquire or Not to Acquire? That is a Question of Ownership Language and Dispositional Greed

dc.contributor.author	Kim, Myojoong	en
dc.contributor.committeechair	Pandelaere, Mario	en
dc.contributor.committeemember	Herr, Paul Michael	en
dc.contributor.committeemember	Goenka, Shreyans	en
dc.contributor.committeemember	Jiang, Juncai	en
dc.contributor.department	Marketing	en
dc.date.accessioned	2023-05-19T08:00:22Z	en
dc.date.available	2023-05-19T08:00:22Z	en
dc.date.issued	2023-05-18	en
dc.description.abstract	Acquisition is a crucial element of consumer behavior. By gaining a deeper understanding of the factors that influence consumers' acquisition of products, marketers and managers can develop more effective marketing strategies, and design products that better align with the needs and desires of their target customers. This dissertation develops two essays that examine key components of consumers' interest to acquisition: (1) the impact of ownership language on product evaluation, and (2) the influence of dispositional greed on the experience of diminishing marginal utility. Essay 1 investigates the impact of ownership language (e.g., this is my car) on prospective buyers' item evaluation. Results show that using ownership language has a negative effect on both tangible and intangible item evaluation. Specifically, using more ownership language raises contamination concerns and leads to decreased item evaluation. Essay 2 focuses on the individual differences in the experience of diminishing marginal utility (DMU), which is an essential component of consumers' interest in acquisition. By examining the relationship between dispositional greed and the experience of DMU, this research provides valuable insights into the motivations and desires that drive consumer behavior. The findings from six studies demonstrate that individuals with higher levels of dispositional greed are less likely to experience DMU and that such a heterogeneous experience of DMU depends on consumption scenarios (i.e., quantity-based vs. non-quantity-based).	en
dc.description.abstractgeneral	Understanding what motivates people to buy things is a key focus for consumer research. By studying consumers' interest in acquisition, businesses can gain valuable insights into the factors that drive consumer behavior, which can help them design better marketing strategies and create products better suited for the needs of their target customers. This dissertation features two essays that focus on the concept of "consumers' interest in acquisition." Essay 1 studies how using phrases like "this is my car" (i.e., ownership language) affects consumers' evaluation of second-hand products. The results find that using ownership language makes consumers evaluate both tangible and intangible items less favorably. To be specific, using ownership language raises contamination concerns (e.g., the feeling of having been "polluted"), which leads to lowered item evaluation. Essay 2 investigates an aspect of consumer behavior that has received little attention in previous research: the individual differences in the experience of diminishing marginal utility (DMU). I argue that individuals' dispositional level of greed (e.g., dissatisfaction of not having enough, combined with the desire to acquire more) is related to the experience of DMU, such that individuals with higher levels of greed tend to experience less DMU compared to less greedy consumers. In other words, as greedy consumers acquire more of a good or service, the additional satisfaction they gain from each additional unit does not decrease as rapidly as it does for less greedy people. Moreover, I discovered that this heterogeneous experience of DMU was more evident when consumption experiences involved changes in quantity vs. attributes or features of a product/service.	en
dc.description.degree	Doctor of Philosophy	en
dc.format.medium	ETD	en
dc.identifier.other	vt_gsexam:37433	en
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10919/115101	en
dc.language.iso	en	en
dc.publisher	Virginia Tech	en
dc.rights	In Copyright	en
dc.rights.uri	http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/	en
dc.subject	Psychological ownership	en
dc.subject	ownership language	en
dc.subject	dispositional greed	en
dc.subject	contamination concerns	en
dc.subject	diminishing marginal utility	en
dc.subject	consumer behavior	en
dc.title	To Acquire or Not to Acquire? That is a Question of Ownership Language and Dispositional Greed	en
dc.type	Dissertation	en
thesis.degree.discipline	Business, Marketing	en
thesis.degree.grantor	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University	en
thesis.degree.level	doctoral	en
thesis.degree.name	Doctor of Philosophy	en