Publications

2024

Kirchner-Krath, J., Morschheuser, B., Sicevic, N., Xi, N., von Korflesch, H. F. O., Hamari, J. (2024). Challenges in the adoption of sustainability information systems: A study on green IS in organizations. International Journal of Information Management, 102754. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2024.102754

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Economic, social and ecological sustainability presents one of the greatest challenges of our society. As a result, there is growing pressure on a variety of organizations to implement sustainability programs, such as inclusion training related to social sustainability, cost management programs related to economic sustainability, and perhaps most importantly, green (information) systems related to environmental sustainability. Not only is multi-faceted sustainability most beneficial to organizations at large, but also there are several categorical thresholds that organizations must meet in order to be certified. For these reasons, companies are increasingly adopting information systems (IS) for sustainability in their operations. Specifically, programs designed to influence employee motivation, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors are gaining attention. While there is a long tradition of research on technology adoption, such sustainability systems harbor several new phenomena, both with respect to individual and organizational adoption. Therefore, in this study, we explore the challenges of adopting sustainability systems in organizational contexts. Using activity theory and innovation diffusion theory, and with technology adoption theory as the backdrop of our investigation, we conduct a qualitative field study in four small- and medium- sized companies. Using both theory-guided deductive and inductive interpretation phases, we illuminate adoption challenges through combined intersections of adoption stages (knowledge, persuasion, decision, implementation, and confirmation) and activity domains (subject, instrument, object, community, rules). We then shed light on the severity and importance of these challenges through an expert validation study with green IS experts. In discussing the challenges in light of motivational and green IS design, we posit four dilemmas in green IS adoption that arise from tensions in the specific context of sustainability in organizations. Our findings expand existing knowledge in research on green IS, motivational IS design and sustainable behavior change interventions and yield several theoretical and practical avenues for future inquiry and endeavour.

2023

Krath, J., Morschheuser, B., von Korflesch, H. F., & Hamari, J. (2023). How to increase sustainable engagement in the workplace through green IS: the role of instructional and motivational design features. ECIS 2023 Research Papers, 244. https://aisel.aisnet.org/ecis2023_rp/244/

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Research on green IS has emphasized the value of both instructional and motivational elements in supporting sustainable behavior at work. However, there is still a lack of understanding of these different feature types' individual roles and relevance in inducing sustainable employee behavior. Our study addresses this gap and investigates the use and effects of different instructional and motivational elements in a green IS through a field study with 92 employees in five companies. Our findings based on the analysis of behavioral data shows that instructional elements are more relevant in inducing sustainable behavior, but motivational elements can amplify the positive influence of instructional elements, in particular for long-term user engagement. We contribute to theory and practice by revealing the role of instructional and motivational elements in the successful design of green IS for sustainable employee behavior.

Krath, J., Klock, A. C. T., Morschheuser, B., Legaki, N.-Z., Park, S., von Korflesch, H. F. O., & Hamari, J. (2023). Designing tailored gamification: A mixed-methods study on expert perspectives and user behavior in a gamified app for sustainability at work. 7th International GamiFIN Conference, April 18-22, Levi, Finland, 1-12.

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The establishment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has put the transition to a sustainable society on the global agenda. In this respect, gamification has gained increasing attention as a tool for companies to motivate employees to adopt sustainable behaviors. Specifically, adapting gamification design to the preferences and needs of individual users has been strongly advocated. However, knowledge of personalized gamification design is largely based on conceptual assumptions and self-reported preferences. It remains thus unclear whether actual behavior of different user types matches theoretical conjectures and how user typologies can drive successful gamification design in sustainability contexts. This work addresses this gap by evaluating the design of a gamified app for sustainability at work by comparing expert evaluation (n=10) and analysis of actual user behavior (n=37) of different Hexad player types over a two-month period. In juxtaposing expert opinions and user behavior, our results reveal that actual user behavior greatly differs from expert suggestions and theoretical assumptions. Our results contribute to future research on tailored gamification by questioning the current state of tailored design theory mainly driven by self-report and pointing to the relevance of the context and non-stereotypical approaches for future personalization efforts.

Krath, J., Altmeyer, M., Tondello, G. F., & Nacke, L. E. (2023). Hexad-12: Developing and Validating a Short Version of the Gamification User Types Hexad Scale. In Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-18). https://doi.org/10.1145/3544548.3580968

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The Hexad scale is a crucial tool for personalized gamification in user experience (UX) design. However, completing a 24-item questionnaire can increase dropout rates and screen fatigue within online surveys. When included in larger surveys, scale brevity makes a difference. To reduce the time required for the assessment process, we developed and validated a 12-item version of the Hexad scale. To create it, we carried out an exploratory factor analysis on an existing data set to identify appropriate items (n = 882). To validate the 12-item version, we conducted a confirmatory factor analysis on a new data set (n = 1, 101). Our results show that Hexad-12 outperforms the original Hexad scale regarding model fit, reliability, convergent, and discriminant validity. Therefore, Hexad-12 resolves issues found in studies using the original Hexad scale and provides a suitable and swift instrument for concisely assessing Hexad user types in tailored gamification design.

Kordyaka, B., Park, S., Krath, J., & Laato, S. (2023). Exploring the relationship between offline cultural environments and toxic behavior tendencies in multiplayer online games. ACM Transactions on Social Computing, 6(1-2), 3. https://doi.org/10.1145/3580346

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In multiplayer online games, players from different cultural backgrounds come together to cooperate and compete in real time. Although these games are enjoyed by billions of players globally, behavioral issues such as toxic behavior (TB) have become rampant in some games, perhaps most infamously in multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games, such as League of Legends and Dota 2. A crucial step in curbing TB lies in understanding its drivers and antecedents. In the present work, we contribute to this field of research by considering the regional offline cultural environment in which players live. We draw both on Hofstede's Cultural Dimension Framework and on Kordyaka et al.’s Unified Theory of Toxic Behavior (UTTB) to compare two cross-sectional samples of MOBA players: one from North America (n = 155) and one from India (n = 119). Our analysis reveals significant differences between the samples for all UTTB variables. Additional analyses also indicate the relevance of national culture in relation to other dispositions (i.e., age) and characteristics (i.e., game-related culture). Our findings underscore the role that the offline cultural environments play in TB in MOBAs and additionally open avenues for further research that takes dimensions of national culture in the study of online behavior into account.

2022

Park, S., Kultima, A., Lehtonen, M. J., Krath, J. (2022). Everywhere but Nowhere: Development Experiences of the International Game Developers in Finland during the Covid-19 Pandemic and Remote Work. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 6 (CHI PLAY), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1145/3549496

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The Covid-19 pandemic has influenced people's views on work, and a significant portion of the global game industry converted to remote work during the pandemic. To explore the status of game development in this pivotal moment, we have conducted semi-structured interviews with 27 immigrant/expatriate game developers ("game expats") in Finland analyzing their migration push and pull on societal, industrial, social, and individual factors. The results indicate societal and industrial factors simultaneously influencing game expats' migration intention, but with an increasing influence of game corporation's role on developers' both on-the-job and off-the-job embeddedness due to an absence of (local) community activities during the pandemic. The data also reveals that game developers are valuing the physical workspace for face-to-face interactions, despite the industrial norm of digital tools and seamless transition to remote work. Furthermore, an alarming stratification and hierarchization within the game industry were identified, which game developers self-dividing in-house versus outsourced workforce even if they were both required to work remotely. This paper contributes to game studies on game developers' experiences as an attempt to investigate the local context of game development. It is also one of the first snapshots of game work practices in Finland during the Covid-19 era.

Kordyaka, B., Krath, J., Laato, S., Park, S., Jahn, K. & Niehaves, B. (2022). Exploring the Dark Side of Multiplayer Online Games: The Relationship between Contact Experiences and Sexism. Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS), 10.-14.07.2022, Minneapolis, United States. https://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis2022/vcc/vcc/3

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The virtual communities of PC and console-based Multiplayer Online Games (MOGs) such as Fortnite or League of Legends continue to grow in popularity and attract millions of players around the world. Despite numerous enjoyable outcomes, some concerns have emerged regarding toxic player behavior such as sexism towards female players. In this study, based on the social identity approach and the contact hypothesis, we adopt the perspective of male players to examine the relationships between positive and negative contact and benevolent and hostile sexism in MOGs. We tested our proposed research model with data from 116 male players. In our sample, negative intergroup contact increased both measured forms of sexism (benevolent and hostile), whilst positive intergroup contact had no impact on either, partially confirming predictions from the contact hypothesis. Our work contributes to the discussion on intervention strategies to curb sexism in all its forms in MOGs.

Palmquist, A., Goethe, O., Krath, J., Rosenlund, J., Helmefalk, M. (2022). Design Implications for a Gamified Recycling House.  In: Fang, X. (eds) HCI in Games. HCII 2022. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 13334. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05637-6_18

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This paper encircles explorative design research in a multiple stakeholder triple helix project concerning circular economy and household recycling. Design ethnography was employed to find implications for outlining a gamification artifact that would facilitate recycling behaviors. We collected our data during 27 weeks by attending two field sites: Site A, project stakeholder meetings and a participatory design workshop, and Site B, semi-structured interviews in the household stakeholders’ residences. Our thematic analysis of the sites’ collected ethnographic record extrapolated two specific categories: Stakeholder requirements and Gamification ruleset, together enfolding five key-themes and various sub-themes that could be used to inform the design of a gamification artifact aimed at recycling. Also, based on our research, we propose two research propositions regarding storytelling and understanding for further gamification design researchers to investigate.

Krath, J., Palmquist, A., Jedel, I., Barbopoulos, I., Helmefalk, M. & Isfold Munkvold, R. (2022). Does behaviour match user typologies? An exploratory cluster analysis of behavioural data from a gamified fitness platform. 6th International GamiFIN Conference, 26.-29. April 2022, 105–114.

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A promising solution to increase user engagement in gamified applications is tailoredgamification design. However, current personalisation relies primarily on user types identified through self-reporting rather than actual behaviour. As a novel approach, the present study used an exploratory machine learning analysis to identify seven clusters of users in a gamified fitness application based on their behavioural data (N = 19,576). The clusters were then conceptually compared to common user typologies in gamification, identifying possible relationships between behavioural user clusters and user types motivated by achievement, sociability, andextrinsic incentives. The findings shed light on nuanced behaviour patterns of user types in thefitness context and how knowing these patterns can inform the way in which tailoredgamification could be implemented to meet the needs of specific types. Thereby, they contributeto the discussion on utilising behavioural data and user typologies for tailored gamification design.

Tuschner, C., Krath, J., Bings, J., Schwenkmezger, M., Etzkorn, M. & von Korflesch, H. (2022). Leading in the digital age: A systematic review on leader traits in the context of e-leadership. 30th European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS), 18.-24. Juni 2022. 63. https://aisel.aisnet.org/ecis2022_rp/63/.

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Due to the rapid changes in work environments caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, leadership has shifted from face-to-face to virtual contexts. Accordingly, the new challenges require specific e-leader traits. To summarize the divergent scholarly discussion, we conducted a systematic review and identified distal (i.e., personality, cognitive abilities, motives and attitudes, and core beliefs) and proximal (i.e., skills) attributes of e-leaders. Our results show that some traditional leader traits such as technological, communication, motivational, and organizational skills are also important for e-leadership. However, certain traits become increasingly important in virtual contexts: e-leaders need adaptability and risk- taking to deal with constant change, and higher cultural, social, and emotional intelligence to foster collaboration in diversified teams. In addition, digital technologies require particular change management, coaching, and trust-building skills. Our findings contribute to the current discussion on e-leadership and help practitioners train their leaders towards the identified e-leader profile.

Krath, J., Morschheuser, B., von Korflesch, H.F.O. (2022). Designing Gamification for Sustainable Employee Behavior: Insights on Employee Motivations, Design Features and Gamification Elements.55th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS), 4.-7. Januar 2022,1594-1603. http://hdl.handle.net/10125/79530.

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Encouraging sustainable employee behavior is critical for companies in the face of increasing societal pressure towards sustainability. While gamification has been shown to influence employee behavior effectively, current attempts to design gamification for sustainability in the workplace largely neglect the importance of understanding personal factors and contextual characteristics. This work explores employees' motivations for sustainable behavior and expectations for design features through in-depth interviews with 27 employees from different SMEs. Our results show that many employees tend to be egoistically motivated, suggesting the design of appropriate narratives and individualistic-oriented design features. Employees expected utilitarian, hedonistic, and social design features that primarily serve to support them in achieving personal sustainability goals while highlighting that gamification at work should also integrate seamlessly with existing work routines. We contribute to gamification design research by discussing the particularities of the workplace sustainability context and shedding new light on involving users in gamification design.

Kordyaka, B., Krath, J., Park, S., Wesseloh, H., Laato, S. (2022). Understanding toxicity in multiplayer online games: The roles of national culture and demographic variables. 55th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS), 4.-7. Januar 2022, 2908-2917. http://hdl.handle.net/10125/79693.

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Toxic behavior (TB) is a negative response to in-game frustration in multiplayer online games (MOG) that can ruin the playing experience, causing financial damage to MOG operators. Understanding the drivers of TB is an important step to curb the behavior. In this work, we consult the model of national culture (MNC) as well as demographic variables (e.g., education, gender, and age) as antecedent variables of TB using an exploratory design. We surveyed players of League of Legends and Dota 2 with two samples, based on the MNC, from North America (n=155) and India (n=119). We observed significant cultural differences in TB, with higher levels of self-reported toxicity in the Indian sample. In both samples, consistent with previous findings, age was negatively associated with TB. However surprisingly, there was a statistically significant difference among the two groups in terms of the relationship between education and TB.

2021

Krath, J. (2021). Gamification for Sustainable Employee Behavior: Extended Abstract for the CHI PLAY 2021 Doctoral Consortium. In: Extended Abstracts of the 2021 Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play (CHI PLAY '21). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 411–414. https://doi.org/10.1145/3450337.3483523

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Under the urgency of supporting the transition to sustainability among all societal actors, including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the pivotal role of individual environmentally friendly behavior has been emphasized. While gamification has proven to be a promising means of motivating people and encouraging behavioral change, its application to the context of pro-environmental behavior in the workplace is still in its infancy. This thesis aims to investigate how gamification interventions need to be designed to encourage employees to engage in sustainability, and whether gamification leads to measurable reductions in corporate emissions. By applying design science research methodology, theoretical and empirical research iteratively generate knowledge about this novel field of application and lead to a theoretically grounded gamification design and evaluation, aiming to demonstrate the revolutionary potential of gamification for sustainability in SMEs.

Krath, J., Schürmann, L. & von Korflesch, H. F. O. (2021). Revealing the theoretical basis of gamification: A systematic review and analysis of theory in research on gamification, serious games and game-based learning. Computers in Human Behavior (125), 106963. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2021.106963 .

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Despite increasing scientific interest in explaining how gamification supports positive affect and motivation, behavior change and learning, there is still a lack of an overview of the current theoretical understanding of the psychological mechanisms of gamification. Previous research has adopted several different angles and remains fragmented. Taking both an observational and explanatory perspective, we examined the theoretical foundations used in research on gamification, serious games and game-based learning through a systematic literature review and then discussed the commonalities of their core assumptions. The overview shows that scientists have used a variety of 118 different theories. Most of them share explicitly formulated or conceptual connections. From their interrelations, we derived basic principles that help explain how gamification works: Gamification can illustrate goals and their relevance, nudge users through guided paths, give users immediate feedback, reinforce good performance and simplify content to manageable tasks. Gamification mechanics can allow users to pursue individual goals and choose between different progress paths, while the system can adapt complexity to the user's abilities. Social gamification elements may enable social comparison and connect users to support each other and work towards a common goal.

Krath, J., & von Korflesch, H. F. O. (2021). Player Types and Game Element Preferences: Investigating the Relationship with the Gamification User Types HEXAD Scale. In X. Fang (Ed.), HCI in Games: Experience Design and Game Mechanics. HCII 2021. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 12789 (pp. 219–238). Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77277-2_18

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Gamification has gained scientific attention as a motivational tool for behavior change in various contexts. When designing gamification, several scholars emphasize the importance of tailoring content to the needs of different users, e.g. by using the gamification user types HEXAD typology. From a theoretical point of view, researchers suggest correlations between HEXAD types and certain game elements, but empirical validation of these assumptions is still lacking. Previous studies show limitations either in terms of sample size or comprehensiveness of analysis. Therefore, this study aims to empirically identify game element preferences of different HEXAD types and to validate both the English and a corresponding German version of the HEXAD scale in a quantitative study design with 1,073 participants. The validation shows that the HEXAD scale is a valuable tool for identifying HEXAD types, with some improvements needed for a better model fit. Correlation analysis shows highly significant correlations between HEXAD types and specific game elements. While Philanthropists are motivated by gifting, administrative roles, and knowledge sharing, Free Spirits prefer creativity tools, exploratory tasks, and learning. Both Achievers and Players like challenges, leaderboards, levels, and competition, but Players are additionally attract-ed by extrinsic elements such as achievements, points, and rewards. Socializers like social elements, i.e., teams, social discovery, and social networks. Finally, Disruptors like anarchic gameplay and innovation platforms. In general, the results suggest that the HEXAD typology provides helpful and validated guidance for tailored gamification, and our findings should successfully drive future gamification design to maximize the desired behavioral outcome.

Krath, J., & von Korflesch, H. F. O. (2021). Designing gamification and persuasive systems: a systematic literature review. 5th International GamiFIN Conference, 07.-09. April 2022, 100–109.

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Gamification design has been an important issue for practitioners and researchers since the beginning of research on gamification. With the increasing divergence of gamification in diverse areas, various design principles have been proposed. Yet, existing reviews focus on the synthesis of scientific knowledge about the design process and specific design elements, neglecting the importance of guidelines and principles to make appropriate design choices in order to achieve the desired outcomes. Therefore, this systematic review identifies, analyzes, and categorizes 30 articles that propose design guidelines for gamification and persuasive systems from various application contexts to provide scholars and practitioners with an overview in designing gamified interventions. More than 60 different principles have been identified, which can be divided into user-oriented principles to achieve the intended behavior, system-oriented principles to ensure a hedonic user experience, and context principles. Since the results are primarily conceptual, further research is invited to investigate the effectiveness of different principles based on the context of application to further refine the recommendations for specific use cases of gamification.

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