Enhancing User Engagement through Enterprise Gamification : Identifying Motivational Affordances

Currently, many business organizations have introduced gamification—the use of game elements in non-game contexts—into their existing information systems (ISs). However, despite widespread belief in the benefits of gamification, empirical evidence shows that many gamified ISs fail to deliver on their objectives due to the difficulty in enhancing user engagement with the gamified IS. This study seeks to examine how enterprise gamification enhances user engagement with an information system. Drawing on the framework of situated motivational affordances and self-determination theory, this study develops and test a theoretical model that explains the effects of motivational affordances on user engagement with an IS in the workplace. This study extends the theory of affordance by conceptualizing new affordances enabled by gamification technologies that have not been systematically examined in the IS literature.