So, how many of you have enjoyed a trip to Ikea this Easter holidays?
Public holidays seem to be synonymous with a trip there, at least they are in our house. But have you ever heard of the IKEA effect? It’s a cognitive bias that occurs when consumers place a disproportionately high value on products they have partially created.
Researchers from Harvard, Yale and Duke University discovered that self-assembly impacts the evaluation of a product by its consumers. Their findings suggests that when people use their own efforts to make something, they value it more than if they didn’t put any effort into its creation, even if it is done poorly.
This story made me think about the role of involvement and autonomy in employee engagement: if people have the opportunity to get involved in creating something they are more likely to value it. Involving your employees, and creating opportunities for autonomy are well proven strategies for engaging employees.
We’ve worked with many organisations over the years to do just this. If you’d like to find out how good you are at involving your employees why don’t you fill in our Employee Engagement Health-check diagnostic – it’s completely free and you’ll get a lovely report with your results and suggestions for actions too. And it’s way easier than putting together a “pax” wardrobe!
