The IKEA effect, as explored by Norton, Mochon, and Ariely in their 2012 study, demonstrates that consumers tend to value self-assembled products more highly than similar pre-assembled products. This phenomenon, named after the Swedish furniture company IKEA, suggests that the effort and labor involved in creating a product can lead to increased valuation and liking. The study conducted four experiments to investigate this effect: 1. **Experiment 1A** established the basic IKEA effect by comparing participants' willingness to pay for self-assembled IKEA boxes with those for pre-assembled boxes. Participants who assembled the boxes were willing to pay significantly more, indicating a higher valuation of their creations. 2. **Experiment 1B** expanded the scope by involving hedonic products (origami creations) and comparing participants' valuations with those of non-builders and experts. Participants valued their origami creations highly, often as much as experts' creations, highlighting the IKEA effect's magnitude. 3. **Experiment 2** explored the role of task completion. Participants who built and then disassembled their Lego sets showed lower valuations, suggesting that successful completion is crucial for the IKEA effect. 4. **Experiment 3** further tested the impact of incompletion. Participants who were allowed to complete only half of the steps for an IKEA box also showed lower valuations, reinforcing the importance of task completion. The study concluded that the IKEA effect is robust across utilitarian and hedonic products and that successful completion of tasks is essential for the effect to emerge. The psychological mechanisms behind this phenomenon include the positive feelings of effectance from completing tasks and the increased attention to positive attributes of the product. The findings have implications for marketing strategies that involve consumer co-creation and product customization.The IKEA effect, as explored by Norton, Mochon, and Ariely in their 2012 study, demonstrates that consumers tend to value self-assembled products more highly than similar pre-assembled products. This phenomenon, named after the Swedish furniture company IKEA, suggests that the effort and labor involved in creating a product can lead to increased valuation and liking. The study conducted four experiments to investigate this effect: 1. **Experiment 1A** established the basic IKEA effect by comparing participants' willingness to pay for self-assembled IKEA boxes with those for pre-assembled boxes. Participants who assembled the boxes were willing to pay significantly more, indicating a higher valuation of their creations. 2. **Experiment 1B** expanded the scope by involving hedonic products (origami creations) and comparing participants' valuations with those of non-builders and experts. Participants valued their origami creations highly, often as much as experts' creations, highlighting the IKEA effect's magnitude. 3. **Experiment 2** explored the role of task completion. Participants who built and then disassembled their Lego sets showed lower valuations, suggesting that successful completion is crucial for the IKEA effect. 4. **Experiment 3** further tested the impact of incompletion. Participants who were allowed to complete only half of the steps for an IKEA box also showed lower valuations, reinforcing the importance of task completion. The study concluded that the IKEA effect is robust across utilitarian and hedonic products and that successful completion of tasks is essential for the effect to emerge. The psychological mechanisms behind this phenomenon include the positive feelings of effectance from completing tasks and the increased attention to positive attributes of the product. The findings have implications for marketing strategies that involve consumer co-creation and product customization.