Human Resource Management International Digest

Does “meaningful gamification” address gen Y needs? Exploring its influence on creating meaningful
engagement for gen Y workers
Pratishtha Bhattacharyya, Lalatendu Kesari Jena, Sajeet Pradhan,
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Pratishtha Bhattacharyya, Lalatendu Kesari Jena, Sajeet Pradhan, (2018) "Does “meaningful gamification” address gen
Y needs? Exploring its influence on creating meaningful engagement for gen Y workers", Human Resource Management
International Digest, Vol. 26 Issue: 1, pp.11-13, https://doi.org/10.1108/HRMID-08-2017-0138
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 Viewpoint

Does “meaningful gamification” address gen

Y needs? Exploring its influence on creating
meaningful engagement for gen Y workers
Pratishtha Bhattacharyya, Lalatendu Kesari Jena and Sajeet Pradhan

Introduction Pratishtha Bhattacharyya is a

Downloaded by Mr Lalatendu Kesari Jena At 06:44 28 February 2018 (PT)

PhD student at the

It is expected that by the year 2030, about 75 per cent of our global workforce will be Department of Humanities
represented by the Gen Ys (born between 1980 and 1997) (Montes, 2017). However, this and Social Sciences, Indian
promising statistic hardly provides a satisfactory explanation to the difficult issue of Gen Y Institute of Technology
engagement for every contemporary organization. It appears that the model of engagement Kharagpur, Kharagpur,
that worked pretty effortlessly with the previous generations does not obtain a similar result India.
with the Gen Ys. This can be attributed to a different set of work values, organizational Lalatendu Kesari Jena is a
expectations, and altogether a different set of engagement drivers for the Gen Ys. The Gen Research Scholar at
Department of Humanities
Ys have been heavily attributed as a generation running on immediate gratification, public
and Social Science, Indian
recognition, curiosity, social connectedness, independence, and transparency.
Institute of Technology,
Interestingly, empirical literature also indicates a close affinity toward meaning-based work Kharagpur, India.
value as a significant factor for engagement. In this line, it becomes imperative for Sajeet Pradhan is Assistant
contemporary organizations to create meaningful workplace scenarios for the Gen Ys to Professor at the
achieve their full potential. Department of
Organisational Behavior
Nevertheless, a new human resource (HR) mechanism called “gamification” has come up
and Human Resources,
with the potential to address the Gen Y engagement issue in a meaningful way. International Management
“Gamification” is defined as the application of elements of game design, behavioral Institute Delhi, New Delhi,
science, and motivation theories in the form of game thinking and game mechanics in non- India.
game contexts to engage users (Deterding et al., 2011). With its advent in 2002,
“gamification” has demonstrated positive prospects, especially in corporate HR, and
targets for a lucrative market growth of $5bn by 2018.This prospective growth is a reflection
of the increasing use of “gamification” techniques by contemporary organizations to
engage and retain their workforce. More importantly, “gamification” has been widely
acknowledged as a sustainable corporate tool for employee development in terms of
behavior modification, skill development, and learning. However, not all “gamification”
systems work in their entirety. Hence, for a “gamification” system to succeed, a thorough
understanding of how human dynamics works is essential.
The majority of contemporary applications of “gamification” are based on providing
tangible, external rewards in the form of attaining badges, levels, and leaderboards. In
certain scenarios, the concept of external rewards works perfectly well. However, for lasting
benefit to the employee the “gamification” system needs to address the internal motivation
of an employee. Quite recently, Nicholson (2014) has successfully captured this approach
with his “meaningful gamification”. For Nicholson, “meaningful gamification” is an instrument
to enhance meaningfulness of an activity by building a user’s base of intrinsic motivation
with “gamification” techniques. Although “meaningful gamification” was primarily formulated

DOI 10.1108/HRMID-08-2017-0138 VOL. 26 NO. 1 2018, pp. 11-13, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 0967-0734 j HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT INTERNATIONAL DIGEST j PAGE 11
 to address learning issues for students in educational settings, its applicability seems far-
fetched. When observed closely, the strategies for “meaningful gamification” show close
affinity with the needs and requirements of the Gen Y workforce. With this perspective, our
paper attempts to apprehend the relevance of “meaningful gamification” in creating a
meaningful experience to engage Gen Y workers.

How to apply “meaningful gamification” for Gen Y engagement?

“Meaningful gamification” is constructed on the premise of organismic integration theory
(Deci and Ryan, 2004). This theory elaborates that when people find a personal relevance in
doing an activity, they are more likely to do that activity out of their internal motivation.
Naturally, it is the personal relevance that deems an activity “meaningful”. However, as
personal relevance changes for each person so does the meaningfulness of an activity.
Keeping this in purview, “meaningful gamification” enables users to develop a personal
connection with non-game activity through customizable gamified elements.
Nicholson (2012) provided six strategies for “meaningful gamification” based on the
concepts of play and participatory museums. We have discussed below how those
strategies can be translated to meet Gen Y’s needs to enhance engagement at work:
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n Play and choice: Consistently, the concept of play in “meaningful gamification”

provides autonomy by allowing the users to create an activity and by allowing the
freedom to explore an activity. On a related note, choice offers the option to choose
how, where, and when the users want to engage with the game. In reference to its
actual application, the concept of play is reported to function best in a three-
dimensional space such as in the case of online games. Online games offer flexibility to
the players to login and play irrespective of time and place and the mode of technology
interface (e.g. mobile, laptop, and tab).
n Exposition: Another aspect of “meaningful gamification” is the role of narrative. It goes
without notice, that the Gen Ys share a massive interest for video games and an integral
part of these games are the stories. In a nutshell, a narrative increases the sense of
curiosity and excitement among the players about the game; it helps the players to
locate their path to mastery, elaborates technical information for easy comprehension,
and removes goal ambiguity. For instance, Zombie Run a frequently referred fitness
app for employee fitness offers an engaging story line to the players to encourage
participation and achieve fitness goals.
n Information: The logic behind this concept elaborates that more the amount of
“information” made available to a user, the more would be his/her connection with the
system. Nicholson suggested that know-how about an activity or system is more
effectively imparted when done through “gamification” features like graphical display,
non-player characters, and narratives. For instance, Ribbon Hero 2 by Microsoft, a
strategic application designed to offer training in Microsoft Office, applies the
aforementioned concept quite prominently. Its “clippy” feature provides audio and
visual feedback instantly along with quick narratives for the user.
n Engagement: The concept of engagement in this context refers to social engagement
between employees as player or users. This could be initiated through chat spaces,
discussion forums, and other platforms for sharing ideas. Most of the contemporary
companies allow their employees to network with each other and share ideas. For
instance, Bluewolf Consulting a New York-based company encourages its employees
to share creative ideas for discussion and generate dialog about the company’s
program and initiatives inside the company network. The employees are further
awarded points for sharing and promoting each other’s ideas, and the company in
return benefits from new and innovative thoroughly discussed ideas.

PAGE 12 j HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT INTERNATIONAL DIGESTj VOL. 26 NO. 1 2018

 On the other hand, social engagement has been further suggested to generate and
sustain a healthy sense of competition and cooperation among the employees. For
example, the SAP Community Network not only acts as a platform to share and discuss
ideas but also allows the users to appraise their performance and abilities with other
users.

n Reflection: Reflection in a “meaningful gamification” allows the user to step back and
think about their entire game journey. Practical application of this concept is visible in
every gamification system offering the prospect to track employee path to mastery.
Returning to the discussion of Gen Y engagement, it can be suggested that strategies for
“meaningful gamification” quite appropriately addresses the significant attributes of the Gen
Ys. To begin with, Gen Ys’ sense of autonomy can be achieved by the concept of play and
choice, which allows the employees the freedom to choose, create, and explore a game on
their own. Furthermore, the concept of “information” addresses the Gen Y need for
transparency by providing real-time feedback to the employees on their task. The Gen Y
sense of curiosity is further met by the concept of “exposition”, as a game narrative builds
and eases the tension of the game dynamics. The concept of “engagement” assuages the
Gen Y need for social connectedness and recognition. In addition, the concept of
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“reflection” acts as an additional step in alleviating the search for meaning by permitting re-
appraisal of the entire game process.

Conclusion
Keywords:
It is apparent from the aforementioned discussion that “meaningful gamification” holds the Gamification,
potential to address Gen Y needs. In that way, it creates a base of personal relevance for Employee engagement,
the Gen Ys to relate with their work. This ultimately translates into a meaningful experience Gen y,
for the employees to cherish their work for long. Meaningful gamification

References
Deci, E. and Ryan, R. (2004), Handbook of Self-Determination Research, University of Rochester Press,
Rochester, NY.

Deterding, S., Khaled, R., Nacke, L. and Dixon, D. (2011), “Gamification: toward a definition”, Paper
presented at the CHI 2011, Vancouver, 7-12 May.

Montes, J. (2017), Millennial Workforce: Cracking the Code to Generation Y in Your Company, [e-book],
Lulu Publishing Services, available at: Google Books books.google.com (accessed 11 July 2017).

Nicholson, S. (2012), Strategies for Meaningful Gamification: Concepts Behind Transformative Play and
Participatory Museums, available at: http://scottnicholson.com/pubs/meaningfulstrategies.pdf

Nicholson, S. (2014), “A recipe for meaningful gamification”, in Reiners, T. and Wood, L.C. (Eds),
Gamification in Education and Business, Springer International Publishing, pp. 1-20.

Corresponding author
Pratishtha Bhattacharyya can be contacted at: pratishthabhattacharyya@gmail.com

VOL. 26 NO. 1 2018 j HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT INTERNATIONAL DIGEST j PAGE 13