Disambiguating Preferences for Gamification Strategies to Motivate Pro-Environmental Behaviour

Much topical gamification research has focused on the application of personality trait models and the development of player typologies. These models are often applied under the assumption that personality or gamification user type reside as a stable construct within the individual. However, the preference for gamification strategies as well as their motivational impact, may vary in different contexts and situations. Therefore, our study aimed to disambiguate the different levels of motivation (global, contextual and situational) underlying preferences for gamification strategies, in the specific domain of pro-environmental behaviour. To this end, we developed a gamified mobile app to promote pro-environmental behaviour. Next, 56 participants interacted with the app during on average 22 days, while logs with various game elements were collected. Additionally, participants filled out the Hexad questionnaire to establish gamification user type, a survey polling for intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation towards the environment, and two questionnaires to assess pro-environmental behaviour before and after app usage. Our findings suggest that particularly intrinsic motivation towards the environment predicts preferences for gamification strategies whereas gamification user types fall short. In sum, our study lends support to measuring at different levels of motivation to understand and tailor gamification strategies for pro-environmental behaviour.