Landownership as a socio-psychological phenomenon: Exploration of the owner-land relationship

ABSTRACT

Land fragmentation and conversion compromise the integrity of the privately-owned landscape nationwide. Landowners’ choices and actions play a critical role in these dynamics. To better understand these individuals’ land-management behaviors, this phenomenological study used the theory of psychological ownership to explore landowners’ lived experiences with their properties. We conducted nine semi-structured interviews with landowners holding properties in the Hill Country region of Texas, the leading state in the loss of agricultural land. Our results showed that the owner-land relationship extends beyond feelings of psychological ownership by embracing a combination of human-centered and nature-centered philosophies. With the current study, we expand the understanding of socio-psychological dimensions of landownership by providing a detailed examination of landowners’ personal contexts, experiences, conservation views, and other factors associated with owning land. We conclude by providing a definition of landownership as a socio-psychological phenomenon.

KEYWORDS:

• Landownership
• private land management
• psychological ownership
• owner-land relationship
• phenomenology

Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the Wimberley Valley Watershed Association and Texas Land Trust Council for their help and valuable suggestions throughout the process of conducting this study. We are also thankful to all our respondents for their time and collaboration.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, Evgenia Spears, upon reasonable request.