Psychological Ownership Questionnaire

The Measure of Psychological Ownership in Organizations

James B. Avey & Bruce J. Avolio
Global Leadership Institute

Intent * Example Items * References

The Psychological Ownership Questionnaire (POQ) assesses two theoretically derived unique forms of psychological ownership; promotive and preventative.

Preventative psychological ownership is characterized as territoriality.  That is, when individuals feel ownership over something they may tend to be territorial with/over it.  This may include the feeling of not wanting to share the object (such as resource use or information) and feeling as though, in general, they should be the one to determine what happens to or with the object.  This territoriality is termed preventative ownership and is measured in items one through four of the POQ.

The second and likely more ideal form of psychological ownership is promotive in nature. Promotive psychological ownership is comprised of four distinct yet related dimensions.  They are self efficacy, accountability, sense of belongingness, and self identity. 

Self efficacy constitutes one’s belief in their personal ability to accomplish a given task.  This has also been referred to as confidence and is measured in items five through seven.

Accountability is the tendency for an individual to feel a sense of responsibility to hold individuals and organizations accountable for the object of ownership and is measured in items eight through ten.  For example, if an individual felt psychological ownership in an organization, they may be more likely to challenge the leadership of the organization to justify their decisions regarding the management of the organization as they feel they have a “right to know” what is happening with their object of ownership.

The third dimension of promotive psychological ownership is a sense of belongingness also referred to as a “sense of place”.  This dimension, measured in items eleven through thirteen, assesses the extent to which an individual feels “at home” in their place of work.  Those who tend to feel a sense of ownership at work that is more positive will report they have a place where they belong in the organizational context.

The fourth and potentially most desirable dimension of promotive psychological ownership is a sense of self identify.  At the highest level of psychological ownership an individual will personally identity with the object (such as an organization) of ownership. At this level, the object is seen by individuals as an extension of who they are.  Therefore, great care and attention is given to this object of ownership. 

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Intent

The authors are making the POQ available for research use to grow the information database associated with it and to provide further evidence of validity and reliability. The POQ can only be used by researchers who have submitted the Agreement for Permission to use the POQ including the description of their research.

To obtain the POQ, we will ask you to

1.  agree to our research use conditions and

2.  complete an online abstract of your research project...

 

The Abstract of Research Project contains the following questions.

Click here when you are ready to complete these questions and receive the POQ

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Example Items & Scale for the Rater Form

Instructions

Below are statements that describe how you may think about yourself right now. Use the following scales to indicate your level of agreement or disagreement with each statement.

Strongly Disagree Somewhat Disagree Disagree Agree Somewhat Agree Strongly Agree
1 2 3 4 5 6

 

1. I feel I need to protect my ideas from being used by others in my organization. 1 2 3 4 5 6
5. I am confident in my ability to contribute to my organization's success. 1 2 3 4 5 6
8. I would challenge anyone in my organization if I thought something was done wrong. 1 2 3 4 5 6
11. I feel I belong in this organization. 1 2 3 4 5 6
14. I feel this organization's success is my success. 1 2 3 4 5 6

Copyright © 2007 Psychological Ownership Questionnaire (POQ) by James A. Avey, Ph.D. & Bruce J. Avolio, Ph.D.. All rights reserved in all medium. Distributed by Mind Garden, Inc.

Translations of this instrument are available. For a complete list of translations, along with more details on our translation policy, please visit our translations index page.

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References/Resources

Books:

Luthans, F., Avolio, B.J., & Youseff, C. (2007). Psychological Capital: Developing the Human Capital Edge. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.

Avolio, B.J., & Luthans, F. (2006). High impact leader: Moments matter in authentic leadership development. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Articles:

Avey, J.B., Avolio, B.J., Crossley, C.D., & Luthans, F. (In press). Psychological ownership: Theoretical extensions, measurement and relation to work outcomes. Journal of Organizational Behavior.

 

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