Customized Assembly: How Does Effort Influence the Value of To-be-assembled Products?

Consumers often invest effort by participating in the production of products. Customized product assembly, for example, involves making a series of product composition choices while investing physical effort in assembling a product (e.g. Build-a-Bear). Consumer participation in the production of products has been shown to lead to a greater valuation of the finished product (Dahl and Moreau 2007; Deng et al. 2010; Norton et al. 2012). This increased valuation has been attributed to an increased fit between the final product and consumer preferences (Delleart and Stremersch 2005; Franke and Piller 2004), feelings of competence (Dahl and Moreau 2007; Norton et al. 2012), and feelings of pride/accomplishment (Dahl and Moreau 2007; Deng and Hutchinson 2011). The increase in valuation contrasts principles of economic theory, which suggest that effort expended during the design and assembly process should be subtracted from the value of the co-produced product (Bendapudi and Leone 2003; Dellaert and Stremersch 2005; Etgar 2008; Meuter and Bitner 1998). We propose that positive or negative utility can be derived from the product assembly experience itself. To understand the utility from customization and assembly efforts that is independent from the end product (product fit, pride and accomplishment) we assess how customized assembly influences the perceived value of the components of the to-be-assembled product. This approach assumes consumers will assign more value to the components (e.g., the parts at Build-a-Bear) that provide a better customized assembly experience. We hypothesize that assembly effort increases the perceived value of the components of the to-be-assembled product when the assembly experience is positively engaging (i.e. creative), whereas assembly effort decreases the perceived value of the to-be-assembled product when the assembly experience negatively engaging (i.e., irritating). A customized assembly experience is more positively engaging when customization and assembly are integrated (i.e., the experience is creative) as opposed to segregated (i.e., the experience is irritating).