Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Working Knowledge
Business Research for Business Leaders
  • Browse All Articles
  • Popular Articles
  • Cold Call Podcasts
  • About Us
  • Leadership
  • Marketing
  • Finance
  • Management
  • Entrepreneurship
  • All Topics...
  • Topics
    • COVID-19
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Finance
    • Gender
    • Globalization
    • Leadership
    • Management
    • Negotiation
    • Social Enterprise
    • Strategy
  • Sections
    • Book
    • Cold Call Podcast
    • HBS Case
    • In Practice
    • Lessons from the Classroom
    • Op-Ed
    • Research & Ideas
    • Research Event
    • Sharpening Your Skills
    • What Do You Think?
    • Working Paper Summaries
  • Browse All
    • COVID-19 Business Impact Center
      COVID-19 Business Impact Center
      The ‘IKEA Effect’: When Labor Leads to Love
      13 Apr 2011Working Paper Summaries

      The ‘IKEA Effect’: When Labor Leads to Love

      by Michael I. Norton, Daniel Mochon and Dan Ariely
      Companies increasingly involve customers in the design and assembly of products, from Converse allowing customers to design their own shoes to IKEA asking customers to assemble their own furniture. In this paper researchers Michael I. Norton (Harvard Business School), Daniel Mochon (University of California at San Diego), and Dan Ariely (Duke) use the "IKEA Effect" to explain the increase in valuation we place on products we build ourselves. The researchers discuss the implications of the IKEA Effect for marketing managers and organizations more generally. Key concepts include:
      • Successful assembly of products—no matter how amateurish—leads consumers to value them over and above the value that arises from merely purchasing a product.
      • Labor increases valuation of completed products not just for consumers who profess an interest in "do-it-yourself" projects, but even for those who express a preference for buying preassembled products.
      • Successful completion is an essential component for the link between labor and liking to emerge; participants who were not permitted to finish their creations did not show an increase in willingness-to-pay.
      • The marketing challenge lies in convincing consumers to engage in the kinds of labor that will lead them to value products more highly, especially given their general aversion to such pursuits.
      • The overvaluation that occurs as a result of the IKEA Effect has implications for organizations as a contributor to two key organizational pitfalls: sunk cost effects and the "not invented here" syndrome.
      LinkedIn
      Email

      Author Abstract

      In a series of studies in which consumers assembled IKEA boxes, folded origami, and built sets of Legos, we demonstrate and investigate the boundary conditions for what we term the "IKEA effect"-the increase in valuation of self-made products. Participants saw their amateurish creations-of both utilitarian and hedonic products-as similar in value to the creations of experts and expected others to share their opinions. Our account suggests that labor leads to increased valuation only when labor results in successful completion of tasks; thus when participants built and then destroyed their creations, or failed to complete them, the IKEA effect dissipated. Finally, we show that labor increases valuation of completed products not just for consumers who profess an interest in "do-it-yourself" projects, but even for those who are relatively uninterested. We discuss the implications of the IKEA effect for marketing managers and organizations more generally.

      Paper Information

      • Full Working Paper Text
      • Working Paper Publication Date: March 2011
      • HBS Working Paper Number: 11-091
      • Faculty Unit(s): Marketing
          Trending
            • 13 Jan 2021
            • Research & Ideas

            How 'Small C' Change Can Beat Large-Scale Rebuilding

            • 11 Jan 2021
            • Research & Ideas

            Is A/B Testing Effective? Evidence from 35,000 Startups

            • 13 Jul 2020
            • Research & Ideas

            Merck CEO Ken Frazier Discusses a COVID Cure, Racism, and Why Leaders Need to Walk the Talk

            • 29 Oct 2020
            • Research & Ideas

            The COVID Gender Gap: Why Fewer Women Are Dying

            • 06 Jan 2021
            • Research & Ideas

            Unexpected Exercise Advice for the Super Busy: Ditch the Rigid Routine

        Michael I. Norton
        Michael I. Norton
        Harold M. Brierley Professor of Business Administration
        Director of Research
        Contact
        Send an email
        → More Articles
        Find Related Articles
        • Consumer Behavior
        • Value Creation
        • Consumer Products

        Sign up for our weekly newsletter

        Interested in improving your business? Learn about fresh research and ideas from Harvard Business School faculty.
        ǁ
        Campus Map
        Harvard Business School Working Knowledge
        Baker Library | Bloomberg Center
        Soldiers Field
        Boston, MA 02163
        Email: Editor-in-Chief
        →Map & Directions
        →More Contact Information
        • Make a Gift
        • Site Map
        • Jobs
        • Harvard University
        • Trademarks
        • Policies
        • Digital Accessibility
        Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College