Publications Database

Welcome to the new Schulich Peer-Reviewed Publication Database!

The database is currently in beta-testing and will be updated with more features as time goes on. In the meantime, stakeholders are free to explore our faculty’s numerous works. The left-hand panel affords the ability to search by the following:

  • Faculty Member’s Name;
  • Area of Expertise;
  • Whether the Publication is Open-Access (free for public download);
  • Journal Name; and
  • Date Range.

At present, the database covers publications from 2012 to 2020, but will extend further back in the future. In addition to listing publications, the database includes two types of impact metrics: Altmetrics and Plum. The database will be updated annually with most recent publications from our faculty.

If you have any questions or input, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

 

Search Results

Jashim Khan and Russell Belk (2024). "Money You Could Touch: Cash and Psychological Ownership", Qualitative Market Research, 27(5), 820-840.

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Abstract

Purpose

Despite evidence that cashless payment modes influence spending behavior, researchers have yet to explain the underlying mechanism. Cash serves as a store of value, and transactions involve the transference of ownership in circulation. This study aims to unpack why the physical and visceral nature of cash embodies psychological ownership and how the physicality of cash attenuates the awareness of spending, curtailing instinctive and unnecessary spending.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on data collected in 2013 in New Zealand, the authors conducted another study in the quite different context of China in September 2023, using identical semistructured discussion protocols. The data from 2013 involved five focus group sessions containing at least six participants, involving 31 adults who also completed an open-ended questionnaire immediately before the group discussion commenced. The data collection in 2023 used the same open-ended and semistructured discussion protocol used in 2013, resulting in 180 adult open-ended responses – a nonprobability criterion-based purposive sampling guided participant selection in the 2013 and 2023 studies.

Findings

Findings reveal that psychological ownership does manifest in the app more than in the ownership of money itself. People felt happy, confident, safe and secure while using apps that stored their money. Physical attributes of cash result from sensory perceptions of handling, counting and touching cash and coins. A sense of psychological ownership heightens spending awareness and ramifies spending behavior. The research found sadness and guilt as negative emotions when parting with money.

Originality/value

This study offers empirical support to explain why psychological ownership of cash regulates spending and why the psychological processes that underlie “owned” money interrupt the spending with cash.

Jay Zenkić, Nicole L. Mead, Kobe Millet (2024). "When Cash Costs You: The Pain of Holding Coins Over Banknotes", Journal of Consumer Psychology, 34(4), 641-649.

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Abstract We hypothesize that the physical characteristics of cash lead to differences in “pain of holding” which influences spending. In one field study (rural India) and two controlled experiments (N = 1710), we tested that hypothesis by endowing people with coins or equivalently valued banknotes and measuring their pain of holding and spending. Holding denomination constant (e.g., $1 coins vs. $1 banknotes), participants reported a greater pain of holding for coins (vs banknotes) which in turn increased spending. These findings were consistent across three incentive-compatible experiments using a range of contexts (spending/donation), populations (Americans/Indians), and currencies (USD/INR). There was no evidence that coins were spent more than banknotes because of lower perceived purchasing power. Our findings suggest that the pain of holding contributes to under-saving, which may be especially problematic among vulnerable populations who rely on cash. Conceptually, we shed new insight on the denomination effect (greater spending of smaller than larger denominations) and the pain of paying (the aversive experience of spending money). Practically, we provide recommendations for practitioners who wish to encourage donations, spending, or saving.

Chelsea, G. and Noseworthy, T. (2016). "Does Dirty Money Influence Product Valuations?", Journal of Consumer Psychology, 25(2), 304-310.

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Abstract Despite recent interest in examining the impact of dirty money on consumption-related behavior, researchers have yet to look at the influence of dirty money on the consumable itself. Evidence from two studies suggest that the documented effects of dirty money on spending may have more to do with dirty money contaminating the purchase, as opposed to the current belief that consumers merely want to rid themselves of disgusting things. The authors find that people indeed spend more with dirty money, but only when the bills lower product valuations. This does not occur when people purchase products with inherent properties that cannot be contaminated; in fact, dirty money can increase valuations and preference for these products. The results suggest that the physical appearance of money plays a much larger, more nuanced role in consumption than previously thought, and this effect may not be entirely positive for the consumer.