Gamification in the Workplace: The Central Role of the Aesthetic Experience

Abstract Although gamification in the workplace is burgeoning, organizations frequently have difficulty sustaining user engagement with a gamified information system (IS). The focus of this study is how a gamified IS in the workplace engages users and encourages them to continue system use. By proposing the concepts of flow experience (FE) and aesthetic experience (AE) as different ways to provide deep and meaningful user engagement, this study develops a model that explores the antecedents of FE and AE and their roles in explaining an individual’s continuance intention to use of a gamified IS. The model is tested using data collected from 178 users of a gamified IS in a global consulting company. The results demonstrate that although FE and AE are complementary forces, AE is more salient than FE for explaining continuance intention. The research proposes AE as a parsimonious yet powerful construct that extends the research on user engagement. The findings contribute to research on gamification by shifting scholarly attention from deep engagement characterized by FE to meaningful engagement characterized by AE.

[1]  Constantine Stephanidis,et al.  Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction. Design for All and Accessibility Practice , 2014, Lecture Notes in Computer Science.

[2]  Brenda Laurel,et al.  Computers as theatre , 1991 .

[3]  Karl M. Kapp,et al.  The Gamification of Learning and Instruction Fieldbook: Ideas into Practice , 2013 .

[4]  Steven S. Taylor.  Overcoming Aesthetic Muteness: Researching Organizational Members’ Aesthetic Experience , 2002 .

[5]  Juho Hamari,et al.  Social Motivations To Use Gamification: An Empirical Study Of Gamifying Exercise , 2013, ECIS.

[6]  Sebastian Deterding,et al.  Eudaimonic Design, or: Six Invitations to Rethink Gamification , 2014 .

[7]  Alexandre N. Tuch,et al.  Disassembling gamification: the effects of points and meaning on user motivation and performance , 2013, CHI Extended Abstracts.

[8]  Sebastian Lins,et al.  Gamifying Information Systems - a synthesis of Gamification mechanics and Dynamics , 2014, ECIS.

[9]  Daniel R. Fesenmaier,et al.  Assessing Motivation of Contribution in Online Communities: An Empirical Investigation of an Online Travel Community , 1998, Electron. Mark..

[10]  Brent A. Mattingly,et al.  The power of one: benefits of individual self-expansion , 2013 .

[11]  Yunjie Calvin Xu,et al.  Designing Not Just for Pleasure: Effects of Web Site Aesthetics on Consumer Shopping Value , 2011, Int. J. Electron. Commer..

[12]  Federica Cena,et al.  Self-monitoring and Technology: Challenges and Open Issues in Personal Informatics , 2014, HCI.

[13]  Timothy R. Hinkin,et al.  A Brief Tutorial on the Development of Measures for Use in Survey Questionnaires , 1998 .

[14]  Stefano De Paoli,et al.  My Life as a Night Elf Priest. An Antropological Account of World of Warcraft. , 2010, Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW).

[15]  D. Berlyne,et al.  Aesthetics and Psychobiology , 1975 .

[16]  S. Deshpande,et al.  Task Characteristics and the Experience of Optimal Flow in Human—Computer Interaction , 1994 .

[17]  D. Asch,et al.  Wearable devices as facilitators, not drivers, of health behavior change. , 2015, JAMA.

[18]  Jacob Bronowski,et al.  The Visionary Eye , 1980 .

[19]  Joanna McGrenere,et al.  Affordances: Clarifying and Evolving a Concep , 2000, Graphics Interface.

[20]  Radhika Santhanam,et al.  Digital Games and Beyond: What Happens When Players Compete , 2013, MIS Q..

[21]  Marshall Scott Poole,et al.  Antecedents of flow in online shopping: a test of alternative models , 2009, Inf. Syst. J..

[22]  Jodi Asbell-Clarke,et al.  Challenging games help students learn: An empirical study on engagement, flow and immersion in game-based learning , 2016, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[23]  Hongki Kim,et al.  Effects of collaborative online shopping on shopping experience through social and relational perspectives , 2013, Inf. Manag..

[24]  Qing Hu,et al.  Assimilation of Enterprise Systems: The Effect of Institutional Pressures and the Mediating Role of Top Management , 2007, MIS Q..

[25]  Paul M. Leonardi,et al.  When Flexible Routines Meet Flexible Technologies: Affordance, Constraint, and the Imbrication of Human and Material Agencies , 2011, MIS Q..

[26]  Nathan W. Twyman,et al.  Taking "Fun and Games" Seriously: Proposing the Hedonic-Motivation System Adoption Model (HMSAM) , 2012, J. Assoc. Inf. Syst..

[27]  Izak Benbasat,et al.  An Experimental Investigation of the Impact of Computer Based Decision Aids on Decision Making Strategies , 1991, Inf. Syst. Res..

[28]  Louisa Penfold.  Art as experience , 2017 .

[29]  Lennart E. Nacke,et al.  From game design elements to gamefulness: defining "gamification" , 2011, MindTrek.

[30]  Liqiong Deng,et al.  User experience, satisfaction, and continual usage intention of IT , 2010, Eur. J. Inf. Syst..

[31]  Detmar W. Straub,et al.  Examining Trust in Information Technology Artifacts: The Effects of System Quality and Culture , 2008, J. Manag. Inf. Syst..

[32]  Janaki Kumar,et al.  Gamification at Work: Designing Engaging Business Software , 2013, HCI.

[33]  Morgan Jennings,et al.  Theory and models for creating engaging and immersive ecommerce Websites , 2000, SIGCPR '00.

[34]  Krittinee Nuttavuthisit,et al.  How consumers as aesthetic subjects co-create the aesthetic experience of the retail environment , 2014 .

[35]  Radhika Santhanam,et al.  Research Note - Gamification of Technology-Mediated Training: Not All Competitions Are the Same , 2016, Inf. Syst. Res..

[36]  Joanna McGrenere,et al.  Affordances: Clarifying and Evolving a Concep , 2000, Graphics Interface.

[37]  J. Hair.  Multivariate data analysis : a global perspective , 2010 .

[38]  Andrew K. Przybylski,et al.  A Motivational Model of Video Game Engagement , 2010 .

[39]  E. Deci,et al.  Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations: Classic Definitions and New Directions. , 2000, Contemporary educational psychology.

[40]  Steve Dale.  Gamification Making work fun, or making fun of work? , 2014 .

[41]  Scott Nicholson,et al.  Two paths to motivation through game design elements: Reward-based gamification and meaningful gamification , 2013 .

[42]  Victor R. Prybutok,et al.  The influence of website dimensionality on customer experiences, perceptions and behavioral intentions: An exploration of 2D vs. 3D web design , 2015, Inf. Manag..

[43]  Yang Chen,et al.  Cogent: A Case Study of Meaningful Gamification in Education with Virtual Currency , 2015, Int. J. Emerg. Technol. Learn..

[44]  Johan F. Hoorn,et al.  Affective affordances: Improving interface character engagement through interaction , 2006, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Stud..

[45]  S. Rafaeli,et al.  Studying Gamification: The Effect of Rewards and Incentives on Motivation , 2015 .

[46]  E. Deci,et al.  The "What" and "Why" of Goal Pursuits: Human Needs and the Self-Determination of Behavior , 2000 .

[47]  Robert-Jan Sips,et al.  Work and Play: An Experiment in Enterprise Gamification , 2016, CSCW.

[48]  F. Bookstein,et al.  Two Structural Equation Models: LISREL and PLS Applied to Consumer Exit-Voice Theory , 1982 .

[49]  Weiquan Wang,et al.  The Determinants and Impacts of Aesthetics in Users’ First Interaction with Websites , 2016, J. Manag. Inf. Syst..

[50]  Regan L. Mandryk,et al.  Mobile Gamification for Crowdsourcing Data Collection: Leveraging the Freemium Model , 2015, CHI.

[51]  T. Garry,et al.  An investigation into gamification as a customer engagement experience environment , 2015 .

[52]  J. McGonigal.  Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World , 2011 .

[53]  Juho Hamari,et al.  Does Gamification Work? -- A Literature Review of Empirical Studies on Gamification , 2014, 2014 47th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.

[54]  B. Little,et al.  Personal projects, happiness, and meaning: on doing well and being yourself. , 1998, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[55]  Chun-Chia Lee,et al.  Designing Attractive Gamification Features for Collaborative Storytelling Websites , 2013, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[56]  Victor Kaptelinin,et al.  Acting with technology: Activity theory and interaction design , 2006, First Monday.

[57]  Wesley Shu,et al.  Continuance of Social Network Services Games , 2017 .

[58]  Ajay Mehra,et al.  The Social Networks of High and Low Self-Monitors: Implications for Workplace Performance , 2001 .

[59]  Juho Hamari,et al.  Transforming homo economicus into homo ludens: A field experiment on gamification in a utilitarian peer-to-peer trading service , 2013, Electron. Commer. Res. Appl..

[60]  Atreyi Kankanhalli,et al.  Contributing Knowledge to Electronic Knowledge Repositories: An Empirical Investigation , 2005, MIS Q..

[61]  Massimo Magni,et al.  'To play or not to play': A cross-temporal investigation using hedonic and instrumental perspectives to explain user intentions to explore a technology , 2010, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Stud..

[62]  D. A. Kenny,et al.  The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. , 1986, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[63]  Katariina Salmela-Aro,et al.  Personal project pursuit: Goals, action, and human flourishing. , 2007 .

[64]  Juho Hamari,et al.  "Working out for likes": An empirical study on social influence in exercise gamification , 2015, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[65]  M. Csíkszentmihályi.  Flow. The Psychology of Optimal Experience. New York (HarperPerennial) 1990. , 1990 .

[66]  Juho Hamari,et al.  Defining gamification: a service marketing perspective , 2012, MindTrek.

[67]  Juho Hamari,et al.  Measuring flow in gamification: Dispositional Flow Scale-2 , 2014, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[68]  Seung-Hyun Kim,et al.  Gamification: A New Paradigm for Online User Engagement , 2012, ICIS.

[69]  Jacob Bronowski,et al.  The Visionary Eye , 1979 .

[70]  R.I.A. Mercuri,et al.  Technology as Experience , 2005, IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication.

[71]  Christopher Cheong,et al.  Quick Quiz: A Gamified Approach for Enhancing Learning , 2013, PACIS.

[72]  Donald A. Norman,et al.  The invisible computer , 1998 .

[73]  Dzmitry Aliakseyeu,et al.  Slow design for meaningful interactions , 2013, CHI.

[74]  P. M. Podsakoff,et al.  Self-Reports in Organizational Research: Problems and Prospects , 1986 .

[75]  Elena Karahanna,et al.  Time Flies When You're Having Fun: Cognitive Absorption and Beliefs About Information Technology Usage , 2000, MIS Q..

[76]  Lili Liu,et al.  The Effects of Game Dynamics on User Engagement in Gamified Systems , 2015, 2015 48th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.

[77]  Scott Nicholson,et al.  A RECIPE for Meaningful Gamification , 2015 .

[78]  Brian R. Little,et al.  Personal project pursuit: Dimensions and dynamics of personal meaning. , 1998 .

[79]  Thomas Hess,et al.  Flow Experience in Information Systems Research: Revisiting its Conceptualization, Conditions, and Effects , 2014, ICIS.

[80]  James K. Harter,et al.  Business-unit-level relationship between employee satisfaction, employee engagement, and business outcomes: a meta-analysis. , 2002, The Journal of applied psychology.

[81]  Fred D. Davis,et al.  Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivation to Use Computers in the Workplace1 , 1992 .

[82]  Chia-Ling Lee,et al.  Organization structure, competition and performance measurement systems and their joint effects on performance , 2011 .

[83]  Jodi Forlizzi,et al.  Understanding my data, myself: supporting self-reflection with ubicomp technologies , 2011, UbiComp '11.

[84]  D. Hoang.  FLOW: The Psychology of Optimal Experience , 2018 .

[85]  Ritu Agarwal,et al.  Through a Glass Darkly: Information Technology Design, Identity Verification, and Knowledge Contribution in Online Communities , 2007, Inf. Syst. Res..

[86]  Eric T. G. Wang,et al.  Understanding customers' repeat purchase intentions in B2C e‐commerce: the roles of utilitarian value, hedonic value and perceived risk , 2014, Inf. Syst. J..