Psychological ownership is the right of individuals to subjectively feel and control their thoughts, emotions and consciousness (14). It is individuals’ perception and experience of independence and autonomy over their inner world. Pierce et al. (15) developed the concept of psychological ownership. The development of psychological ownership can be divided into three stages. The first stage is the stage of perception, where individuals begin to realize that they have independent thoughts and emotions, and are capable for controlling and management (11). The second the stage of emotions, where individuals begin to realize that their feelings and emotions are independent of others and that they are able to express and manage them autonomously (16). The third stage is the stage of consciousness, in which individuals begin to recognize that their consciousness and conscious activities are independent of others and are able to choose and control them autonomously.

Psychological ownership has a significant impact on consumer behavior. First, psychological ownership influences individuals’ choice and consumption behavior for products and services (11). Individuals tend to choose those products and services that meet their needs and preferences as a way to acknowledge their psychological ownership. Second, psychological ownership influences individuals’ use and consumption behavior of products and services (17). Individuals tend to use and consume products and services in their own way to acknowledge their psychological ownership. Again, psychological ownership influences individuals’ evaluation and satisfaction with products and services (7). Individuals tend to show higher appreciation and satisfaction for products and services that acknowledge their psychological ownership. Last, psychological ownership promotes the needs for personalized products and services (18). Individuals tend to choose products and services that satisfy their unique needs, which enhances their satisfaction and loyalty to the products and services.

To sum up, by increasing individuals’ sense of identity, control and personalized needs, psychological ownership enhances their satisfaction and loyalty to products and services. It is obvious that psychological ownership is the right of individuals to subjectively feel and control their thoughts, emotions and consciousness, which has been applied in many fields and has significant impact on consumer behavior (19).

The high-pressure working group refers to people who are exposed to high levels of stress and pressure at work, and who are often required to take on a large number of tasks and responsibilities, with long working hours and often excessive overtime (1). In high-pressure work environments, people are often prone to physical and psychological fatigue and stress (20). In order to cope with these problems, some people choose to purchase nutritional products to improve their health and productivity.

This study argued that psychological ownership over nutritional products refers to individuals’ psychological feelings and perceptions about purchasing and using nutritional products, which includes individuals’ needs, expectations, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors toward nutritional products (21). Psychological ownership over nutritional products has a significant impact on the purchase intention of high-pressure working groups. First, high-pressure work groups tend to be concerned about their health status (22). They are able to realize the importance of their physical condition for their productivity and quality of life. Therefore, they are more open to and willing to purchase nutritional products for improvement. Second, the high-pressure working groups tend to have high expectations of the efficacy and effectiveness of nutritional products (23). They want nutritional products to improve their physical strength and energy, reducing fatigue and stress. Therefore, they are more likely to purchase nutritional products that are advertised as being capable of providing these effects. In addition, the beliefs of high-pressure working groups about nutritional products may also affect their purchase intentions (24). Some people believe that nutritional products can help them stay healthy and slow down aging, thereby improving productivity and quality of life. This belief will motivate them to purchase and use those nutritional products.

However, high-pressure working groups also consider the following factors when purchasing nutritional products. First, they are usually more sensitive to the price of nutritional products. Due to their higher income, high-pressure working groups are more inclined to purchase higher-end nutritional products with higher prices, because they believe that they are of better quality (25). Second, the high-pressure working groups have higher demands on the safety and reliability of nutritional products. They are more likely to purchase brands and products that are certified to ensure their quality and safety (26). Last, the purchase intentions of high-pressure working groups are also affected by social factors. They usually pay attention to the consumption of their colleagues and friends, and will be more inclined to buy nutritional products that are used by people around them.

To sum up, the purchase intentions of the high-pressure working groups are affected by their psychological ownership over nutritional products. The purchase intention in nutritional products could be influenced by concerns about their health status, expectations about the efficacy and effectiveness, and beliefs, as well as their considerations about price, safety, and social factors. Therefore, manufacturers and distributors of nutritional products should learn about the needs and psychology of the high-pressure working groups and provide products that meet their expectations and requirements, in order to increase their purchase intentions (27).

Based on the above analyses, the following hypothesis was proposed.

Perceived value refers to the actual or potential benefits and satisfaction that consumers perceive from products or services, and it is one of the most important factors that are considered by consumers, in the purchasing decision-making process, which can influence consumers’ purchase intentions and behaviors (28). Perceived value can affect individuals’ behavior and decision-making because people tend to prioritize those things that they perceive to have higher value (29). Perceived value can also be influenced by external factors, such as social culture and media publicity (30).

The impact of perceived value on consumers’ purchase intention is mainly reflected in the following aspects. First, the functional value of products or services (31). Consumers will evaluate whether products or services can satisfy their needs based on their functional characteristics. If the product or service can provide better functional value, consumers are more likely to purchase it. Second, the economic value of the products or services (7). Consumers will consider whether the price is reasonable and whether it provides economic benefits. If the economic value of products or services is high enough, consumers will be more motivated to purchase it. Third, the emotional value of the products or services (32). Consumers will assess the value of products or services based on the emotional experience they create. Consumers are more likely to purchase products or services when they bring pleasure, satisfaction, or enjoyment to them. Last, the social value of the products or services. Consumers will consider whether the products or services are consistent with social values, and whether they enhance their social status. Product or services with higher social value are more likely to be purchased.

Nutritional products are special products whose perceived value has a significant impact on the purchase intention of high-pressure working groups. High-pressure working groups usually face greater work pressure and physical health problems, so they have a higher demand for nutritional products (33). The perceived value of nutritional products affects the purchase intention of high-pressure working groups in the following aspects. From the perspective of the function in health care, the high-pressure working group has a high demand for maintaining physical health and improving work efficiency. If nutritional products can provide effective health care, such as enhancing immunity and antioxidant capacity (34), high-pressure working groups will be more likely to purchase them. From the perspective of the function in stress relief, high-pressure working groups usually face greater pressure from work and psychology. If nutritional products can effectively release stress, such as improving sleep quality and reducing anxiety and fatigue (35), high-pressure working groups are more motivated to purchase them. From the perspective of convenience and accessibility, high-pressure working groups are usually tight on time, and have a high demand for convenience and accessibility. If nutritional products are available in convenient ways to use and carry (36), the high-pressure working groups are more likely to purchase them. Last, from the perspective of word-of-mouth and trust, the high-pressure working groups have a high demand for word-of-mouth and trust in products. If the nutritional products have a good reputation and have been trusted by the market, the high-pressure work group will be more motivated to purchase them.

To sum up, the perceived value of nutritional products has an important impact on the purchase intention of high-pressure working groups. High-pressure working groups usually have higher needs for health care and stress relief, so if nutritional products can provide effective functions, together with convenience, good reputation and trust, they can better satisfy the needs of high-pressure working groups, thus influencing their purchase intention.

Based on the above analyses, the following hypothesis was proposed.

Nutritional awareness refers to individuals’ perception of and attention to nutrition, which includes knowledge of nutrition, awareness of their own nutritional needs, and attention to healthy diet (37, 38). Increased nutritional awareness can lead to improved dietary habits and better health among individuals who are more aware of their nutritional intake.

In modern society, more and more people are paying attention to their nutritional intake with improved living standards and health awareness (39). Increased nutritional awareness is essential for the individuals’ health. By being aware of their nutritional needs, individuals can make better food choices to maintain good health (40). In addition, increased nutritional awareness can lead to greater concern for food quality and safety, avoiding harmful substances and reducing the risk of chronic diseases (41).

Nutritional awareness plays an important role in the moderation of psychological ownership over nutritional products. When individuals’ nutritional awareness increases, they pay more attention to their own nutritional needs and pay more attention to healthy diets, which enhances their sense of identity and ownership of nutritional products (42). Individuals will be more willing to purchase and use nutritional products that meet their needs for nutrients, thus increasing their psychological ownership over nutritional products. On the other hand, nutritional awareness also moderates the purchase intentions of high-pressure working groups. High-pressure working groups usually face greater work pressure and mental stress, and are prone to malnutrition. When these people are aware of their nutritional problems, they will be more concerned about their nutritional intake and more willing to purchase and use nutritional products to improve their nutritional status (43). Therefore, increased nutritional awareness can lead to increased purchase intention and use of nutritional products among the high-pressure working groups.

To sum up, nutritional awareness reflects the knowledge of individuals and the importance they attach to nutrition. It is crucial to individuals’ health, and can prompt individuals to pay more attention to their own nutritional intake, improve their dietary habits and health. Better nutritional awareness can also moderate the psychological ownership over nutritional products and the purchase intention of high-pressure working groups, leading individuals to be more willing to buy and use nutritional products that meet their needs.

Based on the above analyses, the following hypothesis was proposed.

The conceptual model is presented in Figure 1.

The objective of Experiment 1 was to investigate the main effect of psychological ownership of nutritional products on the purchase intention of individuals living under high stress, while also testing Hypothesis H1. Variance analysis was performed using the SPSS 26.0 software, with psychological ownership as the independent variable and purchase intention as the dependent variable. We conducted a one-way between subjects ANOVA (psychological ownership over nutritional products: with vs. without). We randomly recruited 285 participants at Credamo, of which 148 (51.9%) were male and 137 (48.1%) were female. The age distribution of the participants was 75 (26.3%) aged 18–25 years, 80 (28.1%) aged 26–40 years, 69 (24.2%) aged 41–60 years, and 61 (21.4%) aged 61 years and above. See Table 3 for details. All participants were then assigned to the same scenario of large pharmacy. One hundred forty-two participants in the low psychological ownership group had the general nutritional products as stimulus material and 143 participants in the high psychological ownership group had customized nutritional products as stimulus material.

All participants were led to imagine that they were shopping in a large pharmacy with a special sales area. Participants in the low psychological ownership group were presented with the general nutritional products being sold in this area, while those in the high psychological ownership group were presented with the customized nutritional products being sold in this area, and learnt that the nutritional products could be tailored to suit different situation. We assigned a value of 2 to the low psychological ownership group and a value of 1 to the high psychological ownership group, to differentiate their psychological ownership over the nutritional products. Participants were then asked, “Do you agree that you would like to purchase the nutritional products” (1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree) to measure their purchase intention. The stimulus material for Experiment 1 was shown as in Figure 2.

Referring to the study of Tan et al. (44), the emotions of high-pressure working groups affect their purchase decision-making, by influencing their shopping experience. Therefore, we performed the manipulation on the emotions of the high-pressure working groups. Participants were asked, “Do you agree that your emotions were pleasant when you saw the nutritional products customized for you?” (1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree) to measure their emotional state. After that, we collected the basic demographic information of the participants.

There was a main effect test. We conducted a one-way ANOVA with the psychological ownership over the nutritional products as the independent variable and purchase intention of high-pressure working groups as the dependent variable. The experimental results showed that participants’ purchase intention in the high psychological ownership group (M = 5.36, SD = 1.041) was significantly higher than that in the low psychological ownership group (M = 5.02, SD = 1.297), F(1, 283) = 5.888, p = 0.016. H1 was validated.

There was a control variable analysis. Referring to the study of Tan et al. (44), the emotions of the high-pressure working groups affect their consumption behavior. We analyzed the impact of psychological ownership over nutritional products on the purchase intention of the high-pressure working groups again, by taking the emotions of the high-pressure working groups as a covariate. Based on the ANCOVA, there is no significant impact of emotions on the purchase intention of the high-pressure working groups [F(1, 283) = 7.632, p = 0.006]. Therefore, the alternative explanation of emotions of the high-pressure working groups has been excluded. Again, H1 was validated.

Experiment 1 validated the main effect of psychological ownership over nutritional products on the purchase intention of high-pressure working groups. The results showed that psychological ownership over nutritional products have a direct positive impact on the purchase intention of the high-pressure working groups. At the same time, we also affirmed that the emotions of the high-pressure working groups have no significant impact on their purchase intention. However, despite the above experimental findings, Experiment 1 failed to further analyze the internal mechanisms and boundary conditions in the relationship between psychological ownership over nutritional products and purchase intention of high-pressure working groups. In order to fill the gaps, Experiment 2 introduced the perceived value as a mediating variable, so as to better explore the impact of psychological ownership over nutritional products on purchase intention of high-pressure working groups.

The purpose of Experiment 2 was to verify the mediating role of perceived value between the psychological ownership of nutritional products and the purchase intention of high-pressure working groups, while also testing Hypothesis H2. Variance analysis was conducted using the SPSS 26.0 software for calculations, with ‘psychological ownership’ as the independent variable and ‘purchase intention’ as the dependent variable. The mediating model employed in the analysis was Process Model 4, utilizing ‘perceived value’ as the mediating variable. We randomly recruited 280 participants at Credamo, of which 136 (48.6%) were males and 144 (51.4%) were females. The age distribution of the participants was 74 (26.4%) aged 18–25 years, 87 (31.1%) aged 26–40 years, 67 (23.9%) aged 41–60 years, and 52 (18.6%) aged 61 years and above. See Table 3 for details. All participants were randomly assigned to the same scenario of large nutritional product fair. The 140 participants in the low psychological ownership group were presented with general nutritional products; the 140 participants in the high psychological ownership group were presented customized nutritional products.

All participants were led to imagine that they were involved in a large nutritional product fair. Participants in the low psychological ownership group were told that there were various nutritional products in the fair, when they saw a nutritional product in the venue. Participants in the high psychological ownership group were told that one of the nutritional products had been successfully developed and manufactured by their team. As the main members of the team, participants in the high psychological ownership group were invited to serve as a product commentator to help select products for the fair. After the fair, the organizers will gift them a health product. We distinguished the psychological ownership over nutritional products, by assigning a value of 2 to the low psychological ownership group and a value of 1 to the high psychological ownership group. Participants were then asked, “Do you agree that you can feel a strong nutritional value in the above product?” and “Do you agree that the nutritional value of the above product appeals to you?” (1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree) to measure their perceived value, with questions adapted from a scale of Han and Yoon (45). Last, participants were asked, “Do you agree that you would like to purchase the nutritional products” (1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree) to measure their purchase intention. The stimulus material for Experiment 2 was shown as in Figure 3.

There was a main effect test. We conducted a one-way ANOVA with psychological ownership over nutritional products as the independent variable and purchase intention of the high-pressure working groups as the dependent variable. The experimental results showed that the purchase intention of the high psychological ownership group (M = 6, SD = 1.545) was significantly higher than that of the low psychological ownership group (M = 4.15, SD = 1.388), F(1, 278) = 111.031, p < 0.001. Verifying H1.

There was a mediating effect analysis. We took psychological ownership over nutritional products as the independent variable, perceived value as the mediator, and purchase intention of high-pressure working groups as the dependent variable, employing process model 4 to explore the perceived value, which mediated the relationship between psychological ownership over nutritional products and purchase intention of high-pressure working groups [Bootstrap sample: 5000; (46)]. The results showed that psychological ownership over nutritional products had a significantly positive impact on perceived value (β = 0.2929, p = 0.005, 95% CI = [0.089 to 0.4967]); psychological ownership over nutritional products had a significantly negative impact on purchase intentions of the high-pressure working groups (β = −2.0448, p < 0.0001, 95% CI = [−2.3678 to −1.7217]); perceived value had a significantly positive impact on purchase intention of the high-pressure working groups (β = 0.6651, p < 0.0001, 95%CI = [0.4806 ~ 0.8495]). The mediation process of psychological ownership over nutritional products-perceived value-purchase intention of high-pressure working groups was significant (β = 0.1948, SE = 0.0867, 95% CI = [0.0507 ~ 0.3834]). Therefore, perceived value fully mediated the relationship between psychological ownership over nutritional products and purchase intention of high-pressure working groups. H2 was validated. The mediation model results of Experiment 2 are shown in Figure 4.

Experiment 2 confirmed the mediating role of perceived value in the relationship between psychological ownership over nutritional products and purchase intention of the high-pressure working groups. The higher the perceived value of high-pressure working groups, the more likely they were to have psychological ownership over the nutritional product, which enhanced their purchase intention. Despite the above findings, Experiment 2 only discussed the mediating role between psychological ownership over nutritional products and purchase intention of the high-pressure working groups, but failed to further discuss whether there was a moderating role between the two. Therefore, Experiment 3 introduced nutritional awareness and attempted to explore its moderating role in the relationship between psychological ownership and purchase intention of the high-pressure working groups.

The purpose of Experiment 3 was to investigate the moderating effect of nutritional awareness on the relationship between psychological ownership of nutritional products and purchase intention among high-pressure working groups, while also testing Hypothesis H3. We conducted a 2 (psychological ownership over nutritional products: with vs. without) × 2 nutritional awareness (high vs. low) ANOVA. Variance analysis was executed using the SPSS 26.0 software, with ‘psychological ownership’ as the independent variable and ‘purchase intention’ as the dependent variable. In this analysis, the moderation model utilized Process Model 1, with ‘nutritional awareness’ serving as the moderating variable. Two hundred sixty-five participants were randomly recruited at Credamo, of which 131 (49.4%) were male and 134 (50.6%) were female. The age distribution of the participants was 68 (25.7%) aged 18–25 years, 76 (28.7%) aged 26–40 years, 60 (22.6%) aged 41–60 years and 61 (23%) aged 61 years and above. See Table 3 for details. All participants were randomly assigned to the same scenario of competitive reality show, where 128 participants in the low psychological ownership group were presented with general nutritional products; 137 participants in the high psychological ownership group were presented with customized nutritional products.

All participants were led to imagine that they were participating in a competitive reality show. Participants in the low psychological ownership group were told that the ultimate reward was a nutritional product. However, they failed the game. The participants in the high psychological ownership group were told that the ultimate reward was a nutritional product that they were going to buy. And they successfully survived the game, making it their own nutritional product. We assigned a value of 2 to the low psychological ownership group and a value of 1 to the high psychological ownership group, to differentiate their psychological ownership over the nutritional products. Participants were then asked, “Do you agree that whether a food is healthy or not has little impact on your choices?,” “Do you agree that you are particular about the nutritional health of the food you eat?,” “Do you agree that you always follow a healthy and balanced diet?” and “Do you agree that it is important for you to know how to eat healthily?” (1 = Strongly Disagree, 7 = Strongly Agree). These four questions were adapted from a scale of van Dillen et al. (47), to measure participants’ nutritional awareness. Last, participants were asked, “Do you agree that you would like to purchase the nutritional products” (1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree) to measure their purchase intention. After that, we collected the basic demographic information of the participants. The stimulus material for Experiment 3 was shown as in Figure 5.

There was a main effect test. We conducted one-way ANOVA with psychological ownership over nutritional products as the independent variable and purchase intention of the high-pressure working groups as the dependent variable. The experimental results showed that the purchase intention of the participants in the high psychological ownership group (M = 6.3, SD = 0.977) was significantly higher than that of the low psychological ownership group (M = 5.69, SD = 1.608), F(1, 263) =14.089, p < 0.001. H1 was validated.

There was a manipulation check. We divided the participants into two groups, according to the mean value of nutritional awareness, with high nutritional awareness being assigned a value of 2 and low nutritional awareness being assigned a value of 1. Then we conducted a one-way ANOVA with “nutritional awareness” as the independent variable and the purchase intention of high-pressure working groups as the dependent variable. The results showed that the purchase intention of the participants with high nutritional awareness (M = 5.24, SD = 1.745) was significantly higher than that with low nutritional awareness (M = 6.52, SD = 0.628), and F(1, 263) = 70.597, p < 0.001. The manipulation in experiment 4 was successful.

There was a moderating effect analysis. We took psychological ownership over nutritional products as the independent variable, nutritional awareness as the moderating variable, and purchase intention of high-pressure working groups as the dependent variable. Process model 1 was employed to analyze the moderating role of nutritional awareness, as well as the interaction effect of nutritional awareness and psychological ownership over nutritional products on the purchase intention of the high-pressure working groups [Bootstrap sample: 5000; (46)]. The results showed that psychological ownership over nutritional products had a significantly negative impact on the purchase intention of the high-pressure working group (β = −0.5201, p < 0.001, 95% CI = [−0.8116 ~ −0.2287]), and nutritional awareness had a significantly positive impact on the purchase intention of the high-pressure working groups (β = 0.5491, p < 0.001, 95% CI = [0.411 ~ 0.6871]), and the interaction effect between psychological ownership over nutritional products and nutritional awareness had a significantly positive impact on the purchase intention of the high-pressure working groups (β = 0.2991, p = 0.034, 95% CI = [0.0224 ~ 0.5758]). It indicated that nutritional awareness moderates the relationship between psychological ownership over nutritional products and purchase intention of high-pressure working groups. H3 was validated. The mediation model results of Experiment 3 are shown in Figure 6.

Experiment 3 verified that the interaction effect between nutritional awareness and psychological ownership has a significant impact on the purchase intention of the high-pressure working groups. The experimental results show that regardless of the psychological ownership over nutritional products, high-pressure working groups with high nutritional awareness have significantly higher purchase intention than that with low nutritional awareness. The nutritional products that are compatible with consumers’ nutritional value and health consciousness could motivate their psychological ownership over nutritional products, so as to make them to purchase nutritional products that meet nutritional needs and health concepts.

This study acknowledges the following limitations. First, this study has a limitation of external validity (60), as it only examined the relationship between psychological ownership of nutritional products and the purchase intentions of high-pressure working groups. Future research could consider expanding the sample to include more high-pressure working groups with different occupational backgrounds and work environments to enhance the external validity. Second, this study only focused on the impact of psychological ownership over nutritional products on purchase intention, future research could further explore the impact of other factors among high-pressure work groups, such as personal health awareness (61), and level of work stress (62). Last, this study is only a preliminary exploration of the relationship between psychological ownership over nutritional products and the purchase intentions of high-pressure working groups, and future research could delve deeper into the mechanisms and influencing factors, to provide more specific suggestions for practice.