All that glitters is not gold: An investigation into the undesired effects of gamification and how to mitigate them through gamification design

Bekk, Magdalena; Eppmann, René; Klein, Kristina; Völckner, Franziska

doi:10.1016/j.ijresmar.2022.03.002

Cited by 19 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 59 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Moreover, managers could give immediate feedback to employees not only for the completion of a game element but also for the quality of contributions, which fosters deliberate, playful and enjoyable experiences (Patrício et al, 2018). Similarly, adding information to the game element that is meaningful to the employees, such as disclosing the overall objective of the gamified competition, helps managers achieve a gameful experience (Bekk et al, 2022; Hammedi et al, 2021). Managers could also stress the social character elements of gamified competition by implementing discussion forums to enable team‐internal collaboration.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, if not adopted carefully, gamification can also lead to negative outcomes, such as reducing employees' well‐being (Hammedi et al, 2021), which inhibits employees' creativity and innovation processes (e.g., Huhtala & Parzefall, 2007; Roskes, 2015) and potentially affects their perception of the company culture. Managers thus need to be aware of the possible downsides of gamification and include meaningful information or disclose the distraction potential of game elements, as these design elements help avoid the potentially detrimental effects of gamification (Bekk et al, 2022).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Experience matters: The mediating role of gameful experience in the relationship between gamified competition and perceived innovation culture

Schmidt,

Manske,

Flatten

2023

Creat Innov Manage

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Employees perceiving their organizational culture as innovative increase their output and enhance company performance. A potential approach to improving employees' perception of an innovation culture involves implementing gamified competition in the workplace. Despite the numerous studies on gamified competition, its relationship with employees' perceived innovation culture and the role of their gameful experience remains unclear. On the basis of affordance theory, we explain how gamified competition increases employees' perceived innovation culture (inter‐perception) through the mechanism of gameful experiences (intra‐perception). We survey a sample of 382 sales employees from German credit institutions who work with a gamified sales application. With the use of structural equation modelling, we find that gamified competition is positively related to perceived innovation culture. However, when including the mediator, results show that employees' gameful experience fully mediates the relationship between gamified competition and perceived innovation culture. Our study underlines the need for research to shift to an experience‐oriented employee perspective that will enable a better understanding of the impact a gamified competition has on employees' perceptions. Our findings can help managers to design, predict, and adapt gamified competition in the workplace.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experience matters: The mediating role of gameful experience in the relationship between gamified competition and perceived innovation culture

Schmidt,

Manske,

Flatten

2023

Creat Innov Manage

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In line with previous studies examining gamified interactions (Bekk et al, 2022; Berger et al, 2018), we adopted a multistage approach involving a sequence of stimuli for data collection. This methodological choice allowed us to draw causal inferences and gain insights into the mediating role of engagement, specifically as a psychological process that elaborates the impact of motivations on purchase behavior.…”

Section: Study 1: Identifying the Optimal Path From Motivations To Pu...mentioning

confidence: 99%

How gamifying AI shapes customer motivation, engagement, and purchase behavior

Elmashhara,

De Cicco,

Silva

et al. 2023

Psychology and Marketing

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Recently, firms started to gamify conversational artificial intelligence (AI) agents, such as chatbots, to improve purchase outcomes. This article explores strategies for incorporating gamification into AI systems by investigating the impact of utilitarian and hedonic motivations facilitated by gamified chatbots on various dimensions of customer engagement (cognitive, emotional, and behavioral), as well as the subsequent effects of these dimensions on customers' purchase behavior. By conducting one cross‐sectional and two experimental studies involving real interactions with gamified chatbots, this research identifies two crucial paths that warrant attention: an optimal path from hedonic motivation to behavioral engagement, resulting in enhanced purchase, and a detrimental path from utilitarian motivation to emotional engagement, which reduces purchase. Furthermore, the research compares the effects of two types of gamified chatbots and reveals that a game‐of‐chance‐based chatbot, as opposed to a knowledge‐sharing gamified chatbot, aligns with the optimal path, leading to higher purchasing while at the same time avoiding that customers feel obligated to play the game. Based on these findings, the article provides actionable insights for eliciting favorable psychological and behavioral responses through gamified AI interactions.

show abstract

“…Accordingly, gamification activates intrinsic motivations—competence, autonomy, and relatedness—by integrating features commonly used in games into regular activities, making them fun and engaging (e.g., Feng, Tu and Hsieh 2020; Hwang and Choi 2020; Leclercq et al 2018; Wolf et al 2020). Customers who experience gamified interactions have reasons to continue their activities and use related digital platforms and technologies (e.g., Bekk, Eppmann, Klein, and Volckner 2022; Mulcahy, Russell-Bennett, and Iacobucci 2020).…”

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gamification Myopia: Satiation Effects in Gamified Activities

Hammedi,

Leclercq,

Steils

2023

Journal of Service Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Despite the popularity of gamification to improve the quality of experience in a variety of services, there is a lack of evidence on its effective integration into service design and the long-term impact of repeated gamified activities on customer experience. Using 10 studies, including behavioral data, survey, field, and laboratory experiments, this research investigates the effects of repeated gamified activities on customer experience quality and behavioral engagement. We examine the phenomenon through the lens of satiation theory, which explains the declining enjoyment for initially pleasurable activities. Supported by this theory, our results show evidence for a negative impact of gamified services that are highly repeated on experience quality and behavioral engagement. Further, we demonstrate strategies to compensate for such satiation by introducing mechanism and reward variety, a recovery period, and a sense of being near-to-winning. This research makes theoretical and managerial contributions by showing the potential backfire effects of gamification when gamified activities are repeated. Furthermore, this paper feeds the ongoing debate on standardization and personalization of service experiences. This paper demonstrates how high exposure to the same service experience can become counterproductive and increase risks of satiation.

show abstract

All that glitters is not gold: An investigation into the undesired effects of gamification and how to mitigate them through gamification design

Cited by 19 publications

References 59 publications

Experience matters: The mediating role of gameful experience in the relationship between gamified competition and perceived innovation culture

Experience matters: The mediating role of gameful experience in the relationship between gamified competition and perceived innovation culture

How gamifying AI shapes customer motivation, engagement, and purchase behavior

Gamification Myopia: Satiation Effects in Gamified Activities

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About