Purpose - Despite evidence that cashless payment modes influence spending behaviour, researchers

have yet to explain the underlying mechanism. Cash serves as a store of value, and transactions involve

the transference of ownership in circulation. This research unpacks why the physical and visceral

nature of cash embodies psychological ownership and how the physicality of cash attenuates the

awareness of spending, curtailing instinctive and unnecessary spending.

Design/methodology/approach - Drawing on data collected in 2013 in New Zealand, we conducted

another study in the quite different context of China in September 2023, employing identical semistructured

discussion protocols. The data from 2013 involved five focus group sessions containing at

least six participants, involving 31 adults who also completed an open-ended questionnaire

immediately before the group discussion commenced. The data collection in 2023 employed the same

open-ended and semi-structured discussion protocol used in 2013, resulting in 180 adult open-ended

responses—a non-probability criterion-based purposive sampling guided participant selection in the

2013 and 2023 studies.

Findings - Findings reveal that psychological ownership does manifest in the app more than in the

ownership of money itself. People felt happy, confident, safe and secure while using apps that stored

their money. Physical attributes of cash result from sensory perceptions of handling, counting, and

touching cash and coins. A sense of psychological ownership heightens spending awareness and

ramifies spending behaviour. Our research found sadness and guilt as negative emotions when parting

with money.

Originality/value - This study offers empirical support to explain why psychological ownership of

cash regulates spending and why the psychological processes that underlie ‘owned’ money’ interrupt

the spending with cash.