<b>“What</b><b>’</b><b>s in a Name?”: The Effect of AI Agent Naming on Psychological Ownership and Responsible Behaviors in the Shared Economy</b>

As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to permeate shared economy services, understanding how AI design elements impact user behavior has become increasingly important. This research examines how naming AI agents influences responsible behaviors in shared economy contexts and explores psychological ownership as a mediating mechanism. Across four experiments, we demonstrate that allowing users to name AI agents significantly increases their likelihood to engage in responsible behaviors, such as conserving resources and maintaining shared property. We further investigate two theory-driven moderators—interaction frequency and usage context (private vs. public)—that impact the strength of this naming effect on responsible behaviors via psychological ownership. Our findings offer theoretical insights into the underlying processes that enhance responsible behaviors in the shared economy and provide actionable guidance for practitioners aiming to foster user responsibility through AI design.