Lehrstuhl für Strategie und Organisation
TUM School of Management
Technische Universität München
The Chair for Strategy and Organization (Prof. Dr. Isabell M. Welpe) offers Master’s Theses in the
following research area:
Using game elements in non-game contexts:
Towards determining the effects and
applicability of Gamification
BACKGROUND.
Gamification as a distinct concept may be defined as “the use of game design elements in non-game contexts” (Deterding
et al., 2011, p. 9). Nowadays, it may be found in several applications used on a daily basis. For instance, running apps like
“Nike+” aim to motivate their users by using trophy systems. A recent application of game elements in order to motivate
users to take a stroll around their living area can be found in “Pokemon Go” where players get inter alia rewarded for walking
certain distances. Although gamification has found broad application in various areas, empirical work across disciplines has
just begun to explore how gamification can sophisticatedly be used in certain contexts and what behavioral and experiential
effects gamification has on people in short and long terms. Nonetheless, it lacks further empirical insight and standards of
practice for design and implementation. Forthcoming in the area of gamification is thus highly dependent (1) on further
experimental investigation of the individual effects of game elements on human behavior and further (2) on the examination
of the individual contexts where gamification is used. This is especially relevant for the area of Management Information
Systems Research, where gamification is not without its critics, as some used game elements show characteristics of
features that can be found in e.g. hedonic information systems as well.
THESIS TOPICS.
1. Individual characteristics in using gamified systems.
The effects of gamification are proposed to vary among individuals. Further, it is believed, that user qualities have an
effect on attitudes toward gamification and that people in fact interact with game-like systems in different manners, and
for different reasons. A holistic overview of individual characteristics that may influence the way gamification is perceived does not exist. As the field of Information Systems (IS) needs more frequent and comprehensive review of the
extant literature, this may be examined (1.) in a meta-analytic approach regarding the individual characteristics and
their influence mentioned in literature and (2.) in a cross-sectional survey with community members of a gamified system (e.g. crowdrise).
2. Pinpointed effects of game elements on user behavior.
Gamification literature requires further experimental examination of the effects of game elements. For instance, how do
game elements compare to monetary incentives and how do game elements interact with the type of gamified task?
This may be examined in a laboratory experiment, field experiment or web-experiment in close collaboration with researchers of the Chair of Strategy and Organization. This will include setting up an experimental platform and thus will
require basic programming skills (e.g. in order to program a setting in z-Tree, o-Tree or a web-based application).
3. Gamification in Manufacturing.
Manufacturing environments offer good opportunities for the implementation of Gamification. These environments often
offer monotonic and repetitive working conditions lacking (positive) feedback. Nonetheless, as gamification is regarded
context-specific further exploration of this area of application is necessary. This may include a (1.) systematic literature
review regarding the usage of Information Systems in order to motivate workers in manufacturing environments as well
as (2.) qualitative interviews with employees and managers of manufacturing companies in order to gather further
insides into the antecedents of using motivational information systems in general and specifically gamification in manufacturing settings. This topic would offer the opportunity to actively engage in an ongoing research project of the Chair
of Strategy and Organization.
Lehrstuhl für Strategie und Organisation
TUM School of Management
Technische Universität München
4. Motivation Theories.
Gamification theory mentions several motivation theories to explain the proposed behavior caused by using game
elements in non-game contexts. This must rather be seen critically, as it is conceivable that several mechanisms that
are associated with game elements might have been examined earlier in the field of Management Information Systems
using other theoretical constructs than gamification. This may be examined in a systematic literature review (including
the creation of Leximancer maps) regarding mentioned motivation theories in gamification literature.
Other questions within the scope of the topic may be welcome as well – please provide a short proposal in this case.
MOTIVATION.
We offer the opportunity to work on state-of-the-art research topics including strong support and supervision if needed. For
this purpose, we are looking for highly motivated and talented students with excellent English skills, that are self-driven,
reliable and precise and that have a strong interest for the topic of gamification and Management Information Systems
research.
CONTACT.
Any interested student, please send your application together with your CV and Transcripts of Records as pdf-files to
Christoph Höllig ([email protected]). A letter of motivation is not necessary. The theses can be done either in
English or in German.
FURTHER READINGS.
Bui, A., Veit, D., & Webster, J. (2015). Gamification – A Novel Phenomenon or a New Wrapping for Existing Concepts?
ICIS 2015 Proceedings, 1–21.
Busch, M., Mattheiss, E., Orji, R., Fröhlich, P., Lankes, M., & Tscheligi, M. (2016). Player Type Models – Towards Empirical
Validation. CHI Extended Abstracts, 1835–1841.
Deterding, S., Dixon, D., Khaled, R., & Nacke, L. (2011). From Game Design Elements to Gamefulness: Defining “Gamification.” Proceedings of the 15th International Academic MindTrek Conference: Envisioning Future Media Environments.
Tampere, Finland: ACM.
Hamari, J., Koivisto, J., & Sarsa, H. (2014). Does Gamification Work? – A Literature Review of Empirical Studies on Gamification. In The 47th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS) (pp. 3025–3034). Hawaii: IEEE.
Heijden, H. Van Der. (2004). User acceptance of hedonic information systems. MIS Quarterly, 28(4), 695–704.
Seaborn, K., & Fels, D. I. (2015). Gamification in theory and action: A survey. International Journal of Human-Computer
Studies, 74, 14–31.