The psychological ownership and task performance relationship: The mediating role of intrapreneurial behavior

Employee task performance plays a critical role in driving organizational success, and understanding its interaction with employee psychological status is essential for unlocking a workforce's full potential. Psychological ownership has been shown to significantly influence performance outcomes, making it crucial to explore how these dynamics shape individual effectiveness. This study attempts to gain a deeper understanding of how employees' sense of ownership influences their intrapreneurial behavior and contributes to enhanced task performance outcomes within organizational settings. A sample of full-time employees based in the United States provided 523 responses on an online questionnaire. The hypotheses were tested using SmartPLS. The findings support that intrapreneurial behavior exhibits full mediation of task performance's relationship with psychological ownership. The outcomes indicate that when employees feel a sense of personal responsibility and attachment to their work, it significantly fosters their innovative actions and enhances their performance, thereby contributing to organizational success. This study contributes to the existing literature by arguing that employees who feel attached to the organization take more responsibility, improve performance, and proactively establish creative innovations to foster organizational success. Study limitations and recommendations are discussed.