Psychological ownership has been linked to various environmental behaviors, but extant research has typically examined a specific environmental element (i.e., a lake or national park) instead of abstract entities as the target of this ownership. The current research investigates how psychological ownership of an abstract entity, namely one's community, impacts environmental attitudes and behaviors. Intrigued by previous research showing that consumer concern for the environment does not necessarily translate into pro-environmental action, we examine the connection between psychological ownership, environmental concern, and environmental behaviors. We propose and find that the perception of environmental ineffectiveness moderates how these variables relate to one another. Counterintuitively, higher levels of perceived environmental ineffectiveness (rather than effectiveness) strengthen the relationships between these variables. We draw on the theory of ritualistic behaviors to explain this phenomenon. Results from three studies using diverse respondents and data gathering approaches reveal a consistent pattern of relationships. Our research makes several important contributions. First, it identifies a quasi-endowment effect that extends from psychological ownership of community to environmental concern, which subsequently results in the protection of the environment through engagement in environmental behaviors. Second, this research extends the burgeoning psychological literature on rituals to the domain of environmental behaviors. Finally, using the conceptualization of environmental behavior as a ritual, this is the first study to illustrate how perceived consumer ineffectiveness moderates the effect of psychological ownership on environmental behaviors through environmental concern.

中文翻译：

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仪式和环境无效：社区的心理所有权如何驱动环境行为

心理所有权与各种环境行为相关，但现有研究通常检查特定的环境要素（即湖泊或国家公园），而不是作为这种所有权的目标的抽象实体。当前的研究调查了一个抽象实体（即一个社区）的心理所有权如何影响环境态度和行为。先前的研究表明消费者对环境的关注并不一定转化为支持环境的行动，对此我们很感兴趣，因此我们研究了心理所有权、环境关注和环境行为之间的联系。我们提出并发现，对环境无效的看法调节了这些变量之间的相互关系。与直觉相反，较高水平的感知环境无效性（而不是有效性）加强了这些变量之间的关系。我们利用仪式行为理论来解释这种现象。使用不同受访者和数据收集方法的三项研究的结果揭示了一致的关系模式。我们的研究做出了多项重要贡献。首先，它确定了一种准禀赋效应，从社区的心理所有权延伸到环境关注，从而通过参与环境行为来保护环境。其次，这项研究将新兴的仪式心理学文献扩展到环境行为领域。最后，利用环境行为的概念化作为一种​​仪式，这是第一项研究来说明感知的消费者无效性如何通过环境关注来调节心理所有权对环境行为的影响。