Winning at Gamification : How the implementation of gamification projects should be managed

The concept of gamification has various areas of applications as a mechanism for creating motivation and engagement to behavioral change. However, there is a gap in current literature regarding guidelines for implementing gamification, leading to uncertainty and approaches of trial-and-error. To address this issue the purpose of this study was to increase understanding of the challenges and success factors when implementing gamification to create empirically validated guidelines in the form of a structured model. Two research questions were formulated: what are the significant challenges and success factors when implementing gamification? And how should managers act when implementing gamification? To answer the research questions, case studies of 13 ongoing or completed gamification projects was conducted. The data consisted of 20 semi-structured interviews with key individuals, primarily project managers within the selected projects. The data was analyzed through thematic analysis and relevant themes and dimensions were created, forming the back bone of the following structured model. This study identified four challenges during implementation of gamification relating to complications of stakeholder’s management, lack of end user support, lack of knowledge and understanding and lack of sufficient resources. In contrast, the four identified success factors were relating to favorable organizational environment, high intrinsic motivation, customizable gamification applications and high end-user involvement. Also, this study resulted in a phase model describing what managerial actions should be taken when implementing gamification in three different phases: design, integration and operation. The actions in the design phase are: involve end-users early on, upper management involvement and ensuring sufficient resources, in the integration phase: ensure end-user involvement, development of technical platforms and evaluation and adjustment activities, and in the operational phase: create acceptance of end-users, balance individual and team based achievements and fine tune cooperation vs competition. The phase model can be used as a practical tool, explaining how managers in organizations should act on overcoming the significant challenges and utilizing significant success factors, thereby reducing uncertainty and need of trial-and-error when implementing gamification. By offering a phase model as well as insight of significant challenges and success factors, the current weakness of lack of solutions for integration for gamification in organizations is mitigated. For further studies, extensive single-market or exhaustive research on diverse markets are suggested to find stronger relations and patterns based on the initial work presented in this study. Also, testing the validity of the suggested phase model in actual business settings should be included in future studies