Gamification as a Driver for Motivation in Business Processes : Experiment in F-Secure Corporation Partner Portal
Andersson, Julia (2021-03-10)
Andersson, Julia
10.03.2021
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe202103107032
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe202103107032
Tiivistelmä
In this study the effects of gamification in business processes are examined, and the possibility of finding out if gamification of processes could show positive results in user motivation. The first part of the study is a literature review of the research done regarding gamification of non-game environments so far. The behavioural effects of gamification are backed with the theory base of behavioural economics. The literature research concludes with mostly positive evidence of gamification’s effects in user motivation, and activity, however in all the studied contexts, such as educational context, and consumer business context, the positive effects could not be shown as pervasive in the observed target groups. In the light of the research review the beneficial results of gamification seem to show effective in a certain type of a system users, whereas for some users the effects show as neutral. The reviewed studies did not show any particular negative effects in applying gamified features in processes.
In the second part the research question is approached with a randomized controlled experiment, and a statistical analysis is applied to examine the results. In this part, a gamification feature is designed and deployed in an interface of an online business portal that is used for commercial functions, business management, and online trainings. The portal is provided by F-Secure Corporation, which is a supplier of cyber security software solutions based in Finland, and the users of the system are the supplier’s reseller partners, who resell the solutions to corporate customers. The gamified feature is designed to support the partner users’ activity in completing certification trainings in the suppliers e-learning platform. After the 3 months experiment period, the results of the experiment show that although the certification trainings were more frequently completed in the intervention group, than they were in the control group to whom the gamified feature was not introduced to, the result was not statistically significant. Some statistical significance was however found in the group not based in Finland with the gamification feature. Another associated factor in the activity of completing certification trainings was the number of the users that were registered under the partner account.
The absolute amount of completed certification trainings was relatively small, in this sense a longer experiment period might be more sufficient in order to see the effect of gamification in this context more thoroughly.
In the second part the research question is approached with a randomized controlled experiment, and a statistical analysis is applied to examine the results. In this part, a gamification feature is designed and deployed in an interface of an online business portal that is used for commercial functions, business management, and online trainings. The portal is provided by F-Secure Corporation, which is a supplier of cyber security software solutions based in Finland, and the users of the system are the supplier’s reseller partners, who resell the solutions to corporate customers. The gamified feature is designed to support the partner users’ activity in completing certification trainings in the suppliers e-learning platform. After the 3 months experiment period, the results of the experiment show that although the certification trainings were more frequently completed in the intervention group, than they were in the control group to whom the gamified feature was not introduced to, the result was not statistically significant. Some statistical significance was however found in the group not based in Finland with the gamification feature. Another associated factor in the activity of completing certification trainings was the number of the users that were registered under the partner account.
The absolute amount of completed certification trainings was relatively small, in this sense a longer experiment period might be more sufficient in order to see the effect of gamification in this context more thoroughly.