心理擁有感被視為影響員工福祉、員工留用與員工角色外行為的因素，先前的研究多著重於員工對工作與組織的心理擁有感。本研究以現存理論為基礎，首要探討員工對動物產生心理擁有感的過程以及其影響。員工對動物的態度、心理擁有感與行為在此研究中，納入人類中心主義與自然中心主義為重要影響因素。為深入探討員工主觀感想與經驗，研究方法採用質性資料來源與主題分析，以心理擁有感的理論架構為基礎，深度訪問十六位於國家動物園工作的照養員。研究結果顯示，員工經由不斷的自我投入與知識獲得的過程，熟悉照養的動物並與其建立關係。參與者認為他們對動物產生的心理擁有感主要歸咎於對動物的責任，而員工相信動物的自主性可能降低其擁有動物的感受。自然中心主義者將動物視為生活重要的一部分，更容易對照養動物產生擁有感。關於心理擁有感造成的影響，包含對動物的情感承諾與關懷行為，以及在組織內的公民行為；然而此研究並未發現負面的員工領域行為，歸因於在動物園工作環境中對同事的信任，以及共同維護動物福祉的目標。當面對動物生病或死亡時，心理擁有感可能產生員工無法承受的情緒與失落感。研究最後討論員工對動物心理擁有感的實際管理運用。

Psychological ownership has been discovered felt by individuals in the work context to promote employee wellness, retention, and extra-role behaviours. Previous research has mainly focused on job and organisation as targets of ownership. This paper first analyses how employees explain their ownership feelings over animal targets at work and their effects compared to current theories. Beliefs towards nature, anthropocentrism and ecocentrism, are additionally considered as essential factors in relation to ownership feelings, attitudes, and behaviours towards animals in this study. To have deep knowledge of employee’s subjective feelings and experiences, the research uses qualitative data and thematic analysis based on the theoretical framework of psychological ownership. Sixteen in-depth interviews are conducted with animal caretakers in a national zoo. The finding reveals understanding on the process that employees familiarise themselves and build relationships with animals by constantly traveling through investment and knowledge routes of ownership feelings. Participants perceive their accountability to animals give rise to ownership feelings whereas employee’s belief in animal autonomy makes living targets less ownable. Ecocentrism viewing animals as vital part of life tends to feel ownership over animals they work with. Regarding consequences of possessive feelings, affective commitment and caring behaviours towards animals, and organisational citizenship behaviours are found. Territorial behaviour as negative influence is lacking in the zoo due to trust between employees and their common goal of animal wellness maintenance. When facing animal unwellness or death, sense of ownership can cause overwhelming emotions and feelings of loss. Several practical implications to manage employee’s psychological ownership over animals are discussed.

Thesis/Dissertation Validation Letter i
Acknowledgements ii
Abstract (Chinese) iii
Abstract (English) iv
Table of Contents v
Table of Tables vii
1. Introduction 1
2. Literature Review 2
2.1 Psychological Ownership 3
2.1.1 Definition 3
2.1.2 Three Roots of Psychological Ownership 3
2.1.3 Three Routes to Psychological Ownership 4
2.2 Applying Psychological Ownership Theory to ‘Living Targets’ 5
2.2.1 Control 6
2.2.2 Investment of Self & Intimate Knowledge 7
2.2.3 The Act of Naming 8
2.2.4 Collective Psychological Ownership (CPO) 9
2.2.5 Application 10
2.3 Anthropocentrism vs. Ecocentrism 12
2.3.1 Behaviours of Anthropocentrism and Ecocentrism 13
2.3.2 Association with Psychological Ownership 14
2.4 Attitudinal and Behavioural Effects of Psychological Ownership 15
2.4.1 Individual Attitudes 16
2.4.2 Individual Behaviours 17
2.5 Downside of Psychological Ownership 19
2.6 Summary 20
3. Methodology 22
3.1 Introduction 22
3.2 Rationale for the Methodology 22
3.3 Research Design 23
3.3.1 Choice of Methods 23
3.3.2 Designing and Structuring the Interviews 23
3.4 Data Collection 24
3.4.1 Sampling Strategy 24
3.4.2 Organising and Conducting the Interviews 24
3.5 Research Ethics 25
3.6 Reliability and Validity 25
3.7 Data Analysis 26
4. Findings and Discussion 30
4.1 Ecocentric Backgrounds & Anthropocentric Environment 30
4.2 Investment, Knowledge & Control Experiences 34
4.2.1 Animal Familiarisation 34
4.2.2 Relationship Building 38
4.2.3 Perceived Control 41
4.3 Psychological Ownership over Animals 44
4.3.1 Emergence of PO 44
4.3.2 Accountability 46
4.3.3 Belief in Animal Autonomy 47
4.3.4 Collective Psychological Ownership 49
4.4 Separation or Connection between Humans and Animals 50
4.5 Effects of PO over animals 52
4.5.1 Satisfaction & Affective Commitment 53
4.5.2 Citizenship Behaviour & Caring Behaviour 55
4.5.3 Anthropocentrism & Biocentrism in Control of Animal 58
4.6 Territoriality 61
4.7 Downside 63
5. Conclusions 65
5.1 Practical Implications 67
5.2 Limitation and Future Suggestions 67
Reference 68
Appendix 1 – Interview Questions (English & Chinese) 72
Appendix 2 – Interview Extracts 82
Appendix 3 – Interview Transcript Example 85

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