Abstract
Psychological Ownership (PO) has been highlighted as important for organizational outcomes and alignment of team members, yet little is known about collective forms of PO in emerging teams. Based on an in-depth study of a new venture team followed over two years, we sketch a process model of PO development among team members as well as in the team. While studies on PO in established organizations highlight the importance of heterogeneous individual needs in triggering the processes leading to PO development, our study indicates the need for temporal alignment of such processes for the emergence of team PO. Our study serves to bridge research on new venture teams and the psychological research on small groups.