Training Through Serious Games: The Relationship Between Travel Agent Engagement, Knowledge of Cruise Products and Cruise Sales

Abstract

Engagement is the manner in which a learner's cognitive and motor skills are motivated when participating in a game. Engaged learners will often push through challenging tasks and will concentrate on improving their skills due to their excitement about playing. The present study examined the engagement of travel agents as they played a serious game. The serious game, Adventures Game, was designed to provide a fun and memorable format for learning for travel agents who sell cruise tickets for a cruise line.The focus of this study was to examine the relationship between engagement (as measured by total number of minutes playing the game) and knowledge attainment (as measured by total number of fun points) of travel agents while playing a serious game. viIn addition, to understand the relationship between engagement and total cruise sales (as measured by total number of cabins sold). Thus, this nonexperimental study investigated the relationship between engagement and knowledge attainment. A combination of linear regression analyses and correlations were used to examine this relationship. The sample consisted of travel agents (N = 309) who played the serious game. The study focused on data which ranged from January 1, 2012 until December 31, 2014.The regression results supported both hypotheses proposed in this study. A strong, positive and statistically significant relationship between engagement and knowledge attainment was found. In addition, a modest, positive and statistically significant relationship between engagement and total cabin sales was found. Based on these results, further analysis was conducted, leading to finding a statistically significant relationship between knowledge attainment and total cabin sales as well.Future research should be designed to test whether the modest link between engagement and total cabin sales is mediated by knowledge attainment. The implications of the findings demonstrate theoretical, empirical and practical relevance, particularly as it is linked to adults learning optimally in computer-mediated, workplace settings.