The IKEA Effect: How To Lift Engagement to Drive Growth

Leaders in agriculture are constantly searching for ways to deepen engagement,  with their teams, their peers, their clients, and their communities. But engagement isn’t just about showing up, it’s about people feeling invested. That’s where the IKEA effect comes in.

So what is the IKEA effect? It’s when people value things more when they build them.

Harvard researchers found that people who assembled their own IKEA storage unit valued it 63% more than those who received it pre-built. The act of building created ownership.

This principle isn’t new. Back in the 1950s, Betty Crocker launched its ‘just add water’ cake mix. It flopped because it was too easy and there was no pride, no “I did it” moment. A psychologist advised removing the powdered egg and getting customers to crack and mix their own. Suddenly, people felt they had contributed and sales skyrocketed.

The lesson? Let people put the eggs in.

If you do it for them, then there is no ownership, no commitment, and little value in it doing it.  They might ‘buy-in’ to it, but they won’t value it nearly as much

Buy-in vs Ownership

In leadership circles we talk a lot about “getting buy-in” but buy-in can be passive because it can be forced onto someone. Ownership is different. Ownership must be taken. When someone takes ownership of a task, process, or idea they do it because they want to, not because they have to. It means they, preverbally put the eggs in. They have contributed, and have skin in the game. So it’s ownership we are after.

In agriculture, this distinction matters. Whether it’s adopting new practices, trialling new technology, building community initiatives, or simply getting things done, buy-in alone isn’t enough. Ikea learned this years ago.

An Australian example in Action

According to their website, CSIRO’s participatory research notes farmers like Jessica and Joe Koch in South Australia ran nitrogen strip trials on their own wheat paddocks. Seeing the impact on yield and protein themselves created ownership of the practice change. It wasn’t “buy-in” to someone else’s idea; it was their experiment, their insight, their decision. You can learn more about it here.

How Can You Apply the IKEA Effect?

1. Involve people early: Don’t present a finished plan and ask for buy-in. Invite people into the design stage.
2. Share challenges, not just outcomes: Ownership grows when people help solve the problem, not just applaud the solution.
3. Listen actively: Not just to words, but to meaning. Ask questions. Be curious.
4. Create space for contribution: Whether it’s cracking the egg, assembling the shelf, or trialling a new practice, give people a role in shaping the outcome.

When people put the eggs in, they value the cake more. When they build the shelf, they value the furniture more. And when they co-design solutions in agriculture, they value the future more.

As leaders, our role is not to hand over prebuilt answers, but to create frameworks where others can contribute, take ownership, and feel proud of what they’ve built. That’s when engagement rises, and that’s when collaboration becomes real.