Research On Paths And Mechanisms Of Psychological Ownership

Traditionally, no one will care more about company than they are the owner of company. Making agents to think and act as principals, scholars have proposed different solutions, such as bonus, profit sharing, stock option plan and so on. All measurs point the interests between enterprises and employees, which can reduce the agency costs. Employee ownership means that employees participate in enterprises’ exercise using their rights, which could improve their attitude and behaviors. But some studies show that individuals will exhibit positive work attitude and behaviors in the absence of legal ownership. The above shows that ownership is not a necessary condition for a formal positive attitudes and behaviors, and also means that the principal-agent theory is limited to explain employee attitudes and behaviors.Combined with the background of" China’s reform ", The Third Plenary Session of the thirteen,《CPC Central Committee on Deepening Reform of the Overall Number of Major Issues》"Article6pointed that promote positively development of mixed ownership economy" and "allow mixed enterprises implement the ownership economy ESOP to form a community of interests of capital owners and workers". Third Plenary Session "decision" reflects the efforts of the government trying to improve labor relations who pointed out the direction of ownership reform,and also pointed out the importance of employee-owned enterprise reform in our country, under the guidance of this principle, employees who share ownership will become the owner of the business capital, so we need to focus on employees’ psychological factors.In summary, in regard of the limitations of agency theory, and employees a sense of belonging can exist without legal ownership, combined with our ESOP(Employee Stock Ownership Plans) policy background, it is necessary to focus on "psychological ownership".As "psychological principals", psychological ownership translate the studies aobut the problem of agency into psychological problems, and is worthy for management theory and practice.Based on social cognitive theory, this research describes the process of organizational factors (organizational justice, organizational identity, organization authorized) affecting the individual’s psychological ownership (promotion-focused psychological ownership, prevention-focused psychological ownership) by individual’s attitude (job engagement, job burnout). And the research emplores the relationship between psychological ownership and individual behaviors (organizational citizenship behavior and work ostracism behavior). The social cognitive processes, containing social exchange theory, social identity theory, authorize theory, self-management theory, and theory of psychological ownership. Meeting the need of aware of the process (the exchange, identification and control) individual can feel and own psychological ownership, which has negative (work ostracism behavior) and active (organizational citizenship behavior) of the two effects. Through review of relevant literatures, we propose hypothesis, specificify contents, and detail the producing paths of psychological ownership. In this research, organizational justice, organizational identity and organizations empowerment have effects on staffs’psychological ownership. The contents are as followed:(1)To find the producing path of psychological. The antagonistic nature of the attitude variables (job engagement and job burnout) as mediators, for the perspective of exchange, identification and control, organizational factors (organizational justice, organizational identity, organizational empowerment) can effect promotion-focused psychological ownership by job engagement, while effect prevention-focused psychological ownership by job burnout. And compare organizational justice, organizational identity, and organizational authority on the psychological impact of differences in the size of the ownership.(2) To find the impact of psychological ownership and conditions boundaries, examining ledership-member exchange and team relationship conflict between promotion-focued psychological ownership and organizational citizenship behavior, and examining ledership-member exchange and team relationship conflict between prevention-focued psychological ownership and work ostracism behavior.(3) To test the different levels of psychological ownership under the background of individual and enterprises, such as the individual characteristics of gender, age, education, work experience, rank, and enterprise features of firm size, ownership, business, industry and other variables,and so on. Using ANOVA to find different levels in individual characteristics or enterprise features.This research uses questionnaires to collect datas and analyzing datas by SPSS18.0and AMOS17.0, concluding that statistical analysis of samples and quality assessment, testing hypotheses, validating theoretical models. The scales are choosed from domestic and foreign journals,which have been used sophisticated scales to ensure the reliability and validity of the research.And the processes conclude questionnaire design, modification, distribution, recycling, treatment and so on,by rigorous measures can ensure the quality of the questionnaire, data quality. The hypothesis of the validation process, including descriptive statistics of variables, confirmatory factor analysis, multiple regression analysis.This research gets the main following conclusions:(1). Organizational justice ccan influence psychological ownership through work engagement;(2). Organizational identify can influence psychological ownership through work engagement;(3).Organizational enpowerment can influence psychological ownership through work engagement;(4). Promotion-focused psychological ownership has a positive impact on organizational citizenship behavior;(5).Leader-member exchange has significantly moderating effect on the relationship between promotion-focused psychological ownership and organizational citizenship behavior;(6).Group conflict has no significantly moderating effect on the relationship between promotion-focused psychological ownership and organizational citizenship behavior;(7).Organizational justice can influence prevention-focused psychological ownership by job burnout;(8).Organizational identify can not influence prevention-focused psychological ownership by job burnout;(9).Organizational enpowerment can influence prevention-focused psychological ownership by job burnout;(10). Prevention-focused psychological ownership can strengthen the effect on work ostracism behavior;(11).Leader-member exchange has no significantly moderating effect on the relationship between prevention-focused psychological ownership and work ostracism behavior;(12).Group conflict has significantly moderating effect on the relationship between prevention-focused psychological ownership and work ostracism behavior.The innovation of this research is as follows:(1).Breaking the traditional research about the path of psychological ownership. Research emphasizes psychological ownership has multi-dimensions, unlike previous perspective of single dimension;(2). Expanding and detailing the Path of psychological ownership. The research find the exchange may cuase the experience of psychological ownership.Then compared with the paths of exchange, control and identify, we find that identifing path may be the proximal factors which influencing promotion-focused psychological ownership, while the controlling path may be the proximal factors to defending psychological ownership.(3).Finding that the negative affects of psychological ownership, which will deepen the impacts of the results of psychological ownership.(4). Research about "relationship" in Chinese situation will enrich the role of psychological ownership boundaries.Conclusions are important for the organization and management practices. First, the organizations should improve organizational justice, enhance organizational identification of employees, and improve organizational levels of enpownerment, by doing so is conducive to enhancing employees’feeling of principal. Therefore, the designed system, organization should pay attention to the establishment of a fair and impartial system of management, build a good atmosphere of communication and interaction through specific licensing, improve organizational levels of authority. Secondly, organizations and individuals should be concerned about psychological ownership, promoting the positive effect of psychological ownership, and minimizing its negative effects. Therefore, in the process of guiding the formation of psychological ownership, the organization and the staffs should take an active interest and timely interventions to promote the positive impact of psychological ownership on organizational citizenship behavior, reduce work ostracism behavior. Furthermore, the organization should pay attention to the "relationship" in the Chinese organizations for good relations play catalytic roles in persons’cognition and behavior. By enhancing the quality of superior-subordinate relationship, the organization should improve the quality of managers; managers should improve the management level. At the same time, bad relationship may cause the staffs’wrong cognition and negative behavior, which can damage interpersonal relationship within the team. Therefore, the organization should strengthen the construction of organizational communication channels; through enhance the good team communication, increase recognition, and build trust relations, to reduce the negative impact of team relationship conflict. Finally, the organization should understand the different members, with different age, education, rank and other different groups, have different psychological ownership. In order to meet the need of stuffs’psychological needs, the organizaitons should take appropriate measures to enhance level of the identification. For society, the different nature of business ownership, psychological ownership is different. Especially under the state-owned enterprises and private enterprises reform background, our country should standardize work processes, establish management systems, and improve the management levels, to improve employees’ psychological ownership experience.