Gamification risks in collaborative information systems: identification and management method.

Abstract

In recent years, technology has been increasingly harnessed to play a role in encouraging and persuading people towards a better achievement of their individual and collective goals. Gamification solutions are popular approaches in this field. Gamification in business refers to the use of game elements in order to facilitate a change of behaviours, encourage engagement and increase motivation toward executing tasks and attaining goals. Despite the increasing recognition, previous research has revealed risks when applying gamification to teamwork within a business environment, such as negatively affect group coherence and creating adverse work ethics. For example, applying competitive elements such as leaderboards may lead to clustering amongst team members and encourage adverse work ethics such as intimidation and pressure. Although the problem is already recognised in principle, there is still a need to clarify and concretise those risks, their factors and their relation to the gamification dynamics and mechanics. Moreover, developing an integrated method to systematically identify those risks and provide a way to mitigate and prevent them for healthier and successful implementation of the system in teamwork places is needed. To achieve this goal, this thesis conducted a set of empirical studies involving managers, practitioners, psychologists and gamification users. This includes three-stage empirical research in two large-scale businesses using gamification in their workplace, including two months’ observation and interview study. This resulted in identifying a set of risk factors, a taxonomy of risks and set of management strategies. A follow-up focus groups research study also identified the modalities of application of these strategies, including who should be involved and how in their implementations. These studies first resulted in the development of a checklist tool to help identify gamification risks. The findings were finally used to develop a method to systematically identify gamification risks and recommend design practices and strategies to tackle them. By accomplishing that, this thesis recommends that gamification in enterprises shall undertake a risk assessment and management process to cater for its potential side effects on teamwork. A notable recommendation is to use participatory decision style for the method that enables for the analysis of gamification risks and their resolution. Moreover, this thesis recommends studying how to integrate the risk identification processes, which should take an iterative participatory style with the systems’ development life cycle activities.