TY - JOUR
T1 - When gamification backfires
T2 - the impact of perceived justice on online community contributions
AU - Leclercq, Thomas
AU - Poncin, Ingrid
AU - Hammedi, Wafa
AU - Kullak, Avreliane
AU - Hollebeek, Linda D.
PY - 2020/3/23
Y1 - 2020/3/23
N2 - While online communities may enhance firm performance, they commonly fail to retain members. To address this challenge, scholars and managers call for the use of gamification. However, despite gamification’s growing use in online communities, insight into its effect on member experience and behaviours remain limited. We hypothesise that gamification affects member-perceived distributive and procedural justice. In experimental studies, we assess the impact of in-gamification perceived justice on member contributions. We find that while high in-gamification perceived procedural justice acts as a necessary prerequisite for member contributions, high distributive justice can reduce game-related uncertainty, thereby rendering gamified practices less fun, particularly for low-engaged community members that tend to value rewards. We add to the literature by (a) pinpointing the core role of perceived justice in the persistence of online communities, and (b) unveiling that high distributive justice can lead gamification to backfire in online communities by affecting member experience and contributions.
AB - While online communities may enhance firm performance, they commonly fail to retain members. To address this challenge, scholars and managers call for the use of gamification. However, despite gamification’s growing use in online communities, insight into its effect on member experience and behaviours remain limited. We hypothesise that gamification affects member-perceived distributive and procedural justice. In experimental studies, we assess the impact of in-gamification perceived justice on member contributions. We find that while high in-gamification perceived procedural justice acts as a necessary prerequisite for member contributions, high distributive justice can reduce game-related uncertainty, thereby rendering gamified practices less fun, particularly for low-engaged community members that tend to value rewards. We add to the literature by (a) pinpointing the core role of perceived justice in the persistence of online communities, and (b) unveiling that high distributive justice can lead gamification to backfire in online communities by affecting member experience and contributions.
KW - consumer engagement
KW - experience
KW - Gamification
KW - justice
KW - online community
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85081647340&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/0267257x.2020.1736604
DO - 10.1080/0267257x.2020.1736604
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85081647340
SN - 0267-257X
VL - 36
SP - 550
EP - 577
JO - Journal of Marketing Management
JF - Journal of Marketing Management
IS - 5-6
ER -