Gamification: Video Game Element Incentives in Cross-Functional Enterprise Information System - Project Finance and Risk Management (PDF)

Introduction:
'Play so that you may be serious." - Anacharsis. Although play is generally regarded as involving neither utility nor meaning and thus as a free time activity, the above quote illustrates that man has known since the times of the Scythian philosopher Anacharsis that we learn from play. Play thus acts as a foundation for our more serious behaviour. With the advent of Gamification in the year 2008, interest in this concept has been surged. In general, the term Gamification describes how games (or certain game elements) can increase customer engagement when used in the context of marketing. For example, by playing a game, the user or player remains on the website longer. The integration of a game into an organization's website thus can increase the players awareness of a product, their familiarity with the product, the player is more easily convinced of the product's benefits and is more susceptible for the company's Unique Selling Points.
Several studies hypothesize that Gamification can also be used in a serious or in an enterprise context (e.g., Flatla, 2011; Singer, 2012). This leads to the question, to what extent can Gamicfication be employed? This work focusses on the idea of gamifying an Enterprise Information System (EIS), which by definition spans several internal business functions. It is hypothesized that Gamification can foster several aspects concerning the use and utilization of such EIS, ranging from a faster learning and more efficient working on the employee's side to an impact on profitability parameters on the organization's side.
1.1. Aim of this Work:
The aim of this work is to show that Gamification can be used to empower Enterprise Information Systems (EIS) and particularly a company's internal use of those systems. This will be achieved by showing that by nature employees have the same psychological needs Gamification addresses to trigger an increased engagement with the gamified software. It will be assessed which different elements Gamification consists of and what exact fundamental psychological aspects these elements address. It is hypothesized that this leads to an intrinsic motivation to use the software, causing the experience of 'fun", which consequently leads to an increase in productivity. [...]