Psychological ownership to promote stewardship

“Stewardship is a concept that has inspired the activities” of numerous organizations that seek to “preserve, protect and maintain” their economic assets for the benefit of their interested parties (Contrafatto, 2014, p. 177). Like agency theory, but with a different view of the people involved, stewardship theory focuses on the relationship between employed organizational members–called agents–and the owners of their employing organization–labeled principals–which is derived from sociology and psychology (Caers et al., 2006; Davis et al., 1997; Eisenhardt, 1989; Hernandez, 2012; Jensen & Meckling, 1976). While stewardship theory “defines situations in which managers are not motivated by individual goals, but rather are stewards whose motives are aligned with the objectives of their principals”(Davis et al., 1997, p. 21; cf. Renz & Vogel, 2022), agency theory is based upon the homo economicus model of man …