CULTURED MINDS

OWNERSHIP & GIFTING

 

The concept of ownership is not universal. For example, (Littrell & Miller, 2001) point out that Swahili, the dominant language in East Africa, does not have a translation of the English verb ‘to own’. Differing motivation to own/purchase likely results in distinct consumer behaviours.

 

The more Western view of ownership often entails a degree of emotion and connection between person and object. Feelings associated with ownership are thought to be the cause of the endowment effect (Morewedge, Shu, Gilbert & Wilson, 2009; Higgins, 2002) and studies have proposed that ownership “can activate an automatic association between the object and the self.” For example, (Morewedge, Shu, Gilbert & Wilson, 2009; Shavitt, Lalwani, Zhang & Torelli, 2006) link the cultural dimension of vertical collectivism & individualism with a propensity to use ownership to emphasise status or show off.

Endowment in the East

People from Eastern cultural backgrounds seem less likely to exhibit the endowment effect: mere ownership of an object did not elicit enhancement of its perceived value (relative to the value of a similar, non-owned object) to the same extent.

 

(Maddux, Yang, Falk, Adam, Adair, Endo & Heine, 2010)