The moderating role of national cultural values in smoking cessation

Psychological ownership is an under researched concept in marketing and compulsive consumption. Research in marketing treats psychological ownership as a uni-dimensional construct yet the concept of psychological ownership is more complex. This research draws on the psychological ownership dimensions of self-efficacy and self-accountability to examine how these dimensions jointly explain smokers' quit intentions. A separate contribution lies in understanding the role of culture in smoking cessation. The authors use data across 25 European countries to examine the moderating influence of cultural value dimensions (autonomy/embeddedness, egalitarianism/hierarchy, harmony/mastery) on the relationship between the psychological ownership dimensions and quit intentions. Findings from this research show that psychological ownership plays a more important role in facilitating smoking cessation for smokers in autonomy, egalitarian, and harmony cultures. Given that culture explains cross-country variation in the psychological process of smoking cessation, national policy makers need to take culture into account when devising tobacco control policies.