Gamification & Employee Engagement - A Case Study of Gamification in a Finnish IT Consulting Firm

Gamification is a novel phenomenon that has been rising in popularity in the recent years and has its application in various fields. This thesis focuses on gamification in the organisational setting and aims to understand how it influences employee engagement. This study applies Maslach et al.’s (2001) six dimensions of employee engagement (workload, control, reward, community, fairness, values) as the theoretical lenses. Specifically, this thesis examines how gamification is perceived by employees, and the role that gamification plays in employee engagement in a Finnish ICT Consulting firm. Thus, the study attempts to bridge the concepts of gamification and employee engagement in order to enhance knowledge about the value of gamification for firms. The empirical part of this thesis was executed using a qualitative approach and a single case study method. The case company, Sofigate, implemented a year-long game to its employees. Five in-depth interviews were conducted with employees, focusing on perceptions towards the game as well as its influence on the sense of engagement. The findings of this thesis show that as an external influence, gamification could positively enhance areas of employee engagement such as reward, values and community. However, workload, fairness and control seemed to be affected to a lesser extent. Empirical evidence indicated that the common pitfalls of gamification such as communication and incentivisation could not be avoided. However, the game did manage to energise the workplace and enhance the already functional company culture. This thesis contributes to academic discussions in human resource literature by exploring the interlinkedness of gamification and employee engagement. Also, it offers empirical implications to the theoretically rooted employee engagement stream of studies. This thesis provides interesting implications for managers intrigued by the myriad possibilities of gamification and evokes several avenues for further research