Gamification as a motivational tool

Abstract

For over the years, companies have been trying to find the ways to get the most out of employees. It has been a long time since business owners realized that, instead of forcing people to work, people tend to perform better if they are motivated. However, statistical data shows that from 60 to 95% of employees globally are not engaged and indicates that addressing motivation is now more important than ever. At the same time, technologies advance and new concepts arise. One of them is gamification, which implies using game elements in non-gaming situations. Now the concept is actively used in different contexts and, among other things, in motivation. The aim of this paper was to study motivation and gamification, as well how they relate to each other, and how gamification tools may be offered as a practical solution resulting in stronger motivation and improved performance. The study has a form of action research, which allows for constantly taking in new means of data and make new decisions based on that data. Multiple sources of information were taken into use – both primary data, such as interviews or personal knowledge, and secondary data, which is various books, articles, databases and other literature. The theoretical part thoroughly examines both motivation and gamification concepts, various motivation theories supporting gamification activities are defined and some gamification models with focus on motivation are presented. The empirical part has a form of developing a gamification solution. Through gathered data, gamification framework was elaborated and adapted to specific company, which serves as an example of how gamification may be applied in practice in business context. The key focus was on motivation, and results are also discussed in relation to how various motivators are addressed – both intrinsic and extrinsic.