In today’s increasingly technology-driven society, millennials are often stereotyped as being “all about digital.” It will come as a surprise then that, when it comes to reading, the younger generation may actually prefer curling up with a physical book over an e-reader, much more so than the older generation, according to a new study.

In a series of discussions concerning “psychological ownership,” or the mental perception that something belongs to you, the researchers found that adult consumers across various age groups perceive ownership of e-books with less attachment and value than ownership of physical books.  

The study is published in the journal Electronic Markets.

Psychological ownership

Psychological ownership can be broken down into three parts: whether people feel they have control over an object they own, whether they use the object to define who they are, and whether the object helps give them a sense of belonging in society.  

“Psychological ownership is important in people’s perception of how they value certain products or services or objects,” Sabrina Helm, an associate professor at the University of Arizona’s Norton School of Family and Consumer Sciences and lead author of the study, said in a statement. “In the context of digital products, we thought it would be appropriate to look at how people take ownership of something that’s not really there — it’s just a file on your computer or device or in the Cloud; it’s more of a concept than an actual thing.”

To conduct the study, Helm and her team pursued moderated discussions with four focus groups of different ages: one group of Baby Boomers, one group of people from Generation X, and two groups of millennials, which included one group of college students and one group of older millennials.

Frustration with e-books

During the discussion, participants across each age group reported feeling a constricted sense of ownership of digital books over physical books, due to a lack of control over their e-reader. For instance, many expressed frustration that they could not copy a digital file to multiple devices.

Similarly, many participants reported feeling a restriction on sharing e-books with friends, as well as gifting or selling the books, which ultimately made e-books feel less valuable than physical books.

Participants also reported that an e-book experience feels more like renting than buying, and that e-books don’t have as much emotional attachment to them as physical books.

Attachment to physical books

When asked to discuss their thoughts on physical books, most participants spoke fondly of their emotional attachments to certain childhood books, as well as a sense of belonging that comes with owning physical books.

Participants also spoke about experiencing physical books through a variety of senses, such as the sound, smell and touch of opening a new book, as well as the ability to write notes or highlight on the pages.

Furthermore, participants stated that they used their physical book collections as a way to express their identity to people who might be browsing through their shelves.

All of these factors point to a deeper association of psychological ownership with physical books than with e-books, according to Helm.

“We see in our data that consumers seem reluctant to move to an ‘all-digital future’ and perceive value in things they can actually ‘hang on to.’ Tactile elements are important, and the sense of belonging and sense of self that apparently mostly derives from physical products,” she said.

Differences in age groups

Though participants across all age groups reported a deeper sense of attachment toward physical books than e-books, the researchers found there to be differences in opinion among older and younger participants.

Surprisingly, older participants reported more advantages to reading e-books than younger participants did. The advantages included mostly physical benefits, such as the lightweight nature of e-readers and the ability to zoom in on text.

“The findings we reported regarding older consumers’ preferences indicate that e-readers clearly have advantages with regard to coping with age-related physical limitations, and play into many older consumers’ interest in decluttering their lives,” said Helm. “Interestingly, younger consumers (namely, students) had reservations with regard to working with e-textbooks.”

Future of e-books?

Understanding the way people view their digital versus physical products is important in today’s technological age, especially to marketers.

Helm explains that one of the main conclusions they drew from the research is that consumers see e-books and physical books as completely different products, and that psychological ownership is an important way to measure value.

“Psychological ownership is important to better understand how consumers value purchases and possessions,” she said. “It may be more important than legal ownership rights. Value perceptions in turn determine consumers’ willingness to buy and willingness to pay, so there is an obvious need for marketers to understand and potentially shape consumers’ value perceptions.”

Helm suggests that marketers should either focus on making the e-reading experience more similar to that of a physical book, or they should further distance themselves from e-books by marketing them as a unique and different form of entertainment.

“A lot of participants pointed out that they see digital books as too expensive for what they deliver, because they don’t offer the same richness as a physical book; you read them and nothing is left,” Helm said in a statement. “If we position digital reading in a different way — as an independent service experience — consumers might be willing to pay a higher price if there’s an obvious added value. If it’s different from a physical book, they won’t compare it to the physical book anymore, because it’s an entirely different form of entertainment.”