Leveraging Psychological Ownership to Promote Pro-Environmental Behavior

While substantial attention has been devoted to psychological ownership (PO) in various management-related domains, we focus on PO-based interventions as practical and low-cost levers for encouraging environmental stewardship. After characterizing PO and its three psychological routes (namely, control, knowledge and self-investment), we propose a five-dimensional model for designing and evaluating sustainability interventions. This framework clarifies how PO can be intentionally leveraged to promote pro-environmental behavior at both local and global levels. PO-based interventions can be applied and adapted to a wide range of behaviors, encompassing the common distinctions between recurring and non-recurring actions, low- and high-investment efforts, and collective versus individual behaviors. This framework is particularly helpful for guiding the development and continual refinement of targeted sustainability interventions. We also outline key policy and managerial implications, showing how PO-based approaches can complement traditional tools-especially in contexts of budget constraints or regulatory deadlock. Finally, we address the potential 'dark side' of PO-such as territoriality and structural neglect-and propose directions for future research on how PO can be responsibly leveraged to address environmental challenges.