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

Ayoung Suh*, Christy M.K. Cheung, Manju Ahuja, Christian Wagner

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

    239 Citations (Scopus)

    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.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)268-305
    Number of pages38
    JournalJournal of Management Information Systems
    Volume34
    Issue number1
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2 Jan 2017

    Scopus Subject Areas

    • Management Information Systems
    • Computer Science Applications
    • Management Science and Operations Research
    • Information Systems and Management

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