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Introduction
Gamification refers to the use of game mechanics and dynamics in non-game contexts (Baptista and Oliveira, 2017; Werbach and Hunter, 2012). According to the Mechanics–Dynamics–Aesthetics Model (Hunicke et al., 2004; Zichermann and Cunningham, 2011), a theoretical foundation of gamification, the careful design of game mechanics such as points, badges and leaderboards (Seaborn and Fels, 2015) generates game dynamics that connect the player with the system (Xu et al., 2017) so that players generate emotional responses (Werbach and Hunter, 2012).
Facilitated by the growth and popularity of the computer game industry, the pervasiveness of social media and mobile and web-based technologies, and firms that are continually looking for new and impactful ways to better connect with, learn from, and influence the behaviors of employees and customers (Baptista and Oliveira, 2017; Robson et al., 2015; Xu et al., 2016), the concept of gamification has already been applied to a wide range of non-game domains (Robson et al., 2015). Education is an area where gamification is often discussed (Hamari et al., 2014). Some other examples of the application in gamification are mobile banking services (Baptista and Oliveira, 2017), crowdsourcing (Ipeirotis and Gabrilovich, 2014), enterprise resource planning system training (Alcivar and Abad, 2016), environmental behavior (Lee et al., 2013), exercise (Koivisto and Hamari, 2014) and government services (Bista et al., 2014).
Gamification has also received heightened interest among academia (Huotari and Hamari, 2012, 2016). Despite the substantial progress that has been made in the field of gamification, it remains a new research field with multidisciplinary attention (Xu et al., 2017) and gamification research often does not address the theoretical foundations (Seaborn and Fels, 2015). Some exceptions are Gnauk et al. (2012), Thom et al. (2012) and Witt et al. (2011).
Related to this issue is the general lack of empirical evidence and understanding as to why people use the gamification services (Hamari and Koivisto, 2015a). Furthermore, the antecedents to gamification intention are often considered from a technology-related perspective (Baptista and Oliveira, 2017; Hamari and Koivisto, 2015b).
Motivation serves as an antecedent leading to gamification usage and is an underlying concept of gamification. Properly designed gamification systems can provide both extrinsic and intrinsic benefits to the players (Landers et al.