Gamification, motivation, and engagement at work: a qualitative multiple case study

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze how the application of gamification promotes employee motivation and engagement in the workplace. This study sought to identify gamification characteristics, examine motivation and engage at work to relate them to different game designs. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative exploratory study of multiple cases involving four companies located in Brazil’s southern region. These companies use gamification with their employees or companies whose business offers gamification solutions focused on people management. Findings This multiple case study presented aspects and different approaches to gamification and serious games. Of the four case studies, the Bravi Quiz application was the most satisfactory case because of its attractive design. Research limitations/implications The research instruments prioritized the topic of gamification with its tools and applicability. The themes of motivation and engagement at work have been addressed but need further research. Practical implications The planning and application of gamification with the appropriate score, feedback and rewards are necessary to promote motivation and engagement in the workplace. Gamification must be linked to its systems and processes on its excellent progress because it is taken in isolation; it does not increase engagement and motivation. Originality/value This is one of the few studies dealing with gamification in human resource management by involving developers/instructors, managers and employees/users and different companies’ tools. This study served as a comparison between the tools of gamification and serious games.

The Power of Compensation System (CS) on Employee Satisfaction (ES): The Mediating Role of Employee Motivation (EM)

“…Employee work happiness is affected by wages, benefits, and motivation since they are frequently cited as two of the top three elements affecting employee job satisfaction (Society for Human Resource Management 2012). Several aspects influence employee motivation, most notably pay for work and opportunities for self-development, interpersonal interactions, particularly successful communication (Stachowska and Czaplicka-Kozłowska 2017;Miri and Macke 2022). The motivated employee directly impacts employee happiness in the workplace (Klopotan et al 2018).…”

Gamification as an Hr Tool

“…Especially in internal gamification more research is needed to understand how and when gamification in organisational settings leads to favourable outcomes (Wünderlich et al 2020). For example, Miri & Macke (2021) concluded that it was more difficult to evoke motivation and engagement through gamification compared to serious games in a work environment. While this study cannot be considered representative for every work environment and every gamified application tool currently used, it merits further research into how and when motivation and engagement can or cannot be achieved by means of gamified systems and services (Miri & Macke 2021).…”

“…Current research on gamification lacks a critical lens enabling it to explore unintended consequences of designs (Rapp et al 2019). To successfully apply gamification in a professional working environment and drive motivation and engagement, it is necessary to utilise appropriate scoring, feedback, and reward systems (Miri & Macke 2021).…”

A balanced perspective on the affordance of a gamified HRM system for employees' creative performance

“…The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/0048-3486.htm have often discussed employee motivation, social relatedness, engagement and development (Koivisto and Hamari, 2019;Miri and Macke, 2021;Wolf et al, 2020), which are antecedents to employees creative performance (Al-Ajlouni, 2020;Song et al, 2019), not much attention has been paid to creativity in related gamification studies (Ikhide et al, 2022;Koivisto and Hamari, 2019;Murawski, 2020); specifically, the affordance of gamified human resource management (HRM) system for creative outcome at work. A system's affordance could be favorable or unfavorable, producing several experiences and evoking different outcomes among users (Gibson, 1977).…”

“…Within such a system, the employee can choose training areas to explore (Sailer and Homner, 2020) and can receive an immediate and visible evaluation that depicts their level of competence in relation to knowledge or skill acquired and in comparison to other colleagues (Wolf et al, 2020). Working in teams and social interaction on tasks through competition and collaboration in a gamified system (Miri and Macke, 2021;Xi and Hamari, 2019) enhances individual creative ability through group learning and knowledge exchange, and refinement (Mumford, 2000). More so, HR compensation and performance appraisal through rewardability, feedback or progress game dynamics, etc.…”