Exploring the Gamification Affordances in Online Shopping with the Heterogeneity Examination through REBUS-PLS

Abstract

This study investigates, from the perspective of affordance theory, how the implementation of gamification features and mechanisms in online-shopping platforms enable consumers to enjoy immersive shopping experiences and make subsequent shopping decisions. Importantly, the technique of REBUS-PLS is applied to unveil the nature of heterogeneity in perceived affordances and ensure the robustness of structural-model results. The research model is tested using cross-sectional data. Our results not only confirm the effects of different types of gamification affordances on immersive experience and subsequent behavior but also reveal the existence of different consumer groups within the overall sample with respect to their behavior patterns. Apart from social connectiveness, rewardability, playfulness, and novelty all exert significant effects on the immersive experience. In addition, this study identified three distinct groups, namely, “no novelty” users, “no playfulness” users, and “no connective” users.

The Impact of Gamification on Slovenian Consumers’ Online Shopping

“…A Xu et al (2023) study recognised three different groups in online shopping platforms: "no novelty" users, "no playfulness" users, and "no connective" users. Xu and Lee (2020) conducted a study to analyse and determine the most common personas based on the studies they reviewed.…”

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

“…Gamification refers to a design approach that implements game elements—such as competition through leaderboards, rewards through points and personalization through avatars—in a non‐game context (Deterding et al, 2011; Hamari et al, 2014; Huotari & Hamari, 2017). According to affordance theory, these game elements represent a stimulus that positively affects employees' psychological perceptions (Gibson, 2014; Huotari & Hamari, 2017), which form the basis for research (e.g., Huang & Zhou, 2021; Ikhide et al, 2022; Xu et al, 2022, 2023). These perceptions can be structured along two dimensions: employees' self‐perception, such as their level of engagement and fun (intra‐perception), and employees' perception of their work context, such as their company culture (inter‐perception) (e.g., Jones et al, 2003; Knudson et al, 1980).…”

“…While research started to investigate outcomes of game elements (e.g., Huang & Zhou, 2021; Ikhide et al, 2022; Xu et al, 2022, 2023), three gaps remain: First, there is a gap on whether the implementation of game elements leads to positive or negative outcomes. Extant research reveals mixed findings: Studies point to several positive outcomes of gamification (Landers et al, 2018; Liu et al, 2017; Vesa et al, 2017), such as reduced stress and enhanced focus (Patricio et al, 2022), increased quality of work in task completion (Hosseini et al, 2022) and employee engagement leading to positive work behaviour (Hamza et al, 2022).…”

“…through leaderboards, rewards through points and personalization through avatars-in a non-game context (Deterding et al, 2011;Hamari et al, 2014;Huotari & Hamari, 2017). According to affordance theory, these game elements represent a stimulus that positively affects employees' psychological perceptions (Gibson, 2014;Huotari & Hamari, 2017), which form the basis for research (e.g., Huang & Zhou, 2021;Ikhide et al, 2022;Xu et al, 2022Xu et al, , 2023.…”

“…While research started to investigate outcomes of game elements (e.g., Huang & Zhou, 2021;Ikhide et al, 2022;Xu et al, 2022Xu et al, , 2023, three gaps remain: First, there is a gap on whether the implementation of game elements leads to positive or negative outcomes.…”