INOM
EXAMENSARBETE
TEKNIK,
GRUNDNIVÅ, 15 HP
,
STOCKHOLM SVERIGE 2020
Green gamification - Designing for
increased sustainable behavior
and business growth
CAROLINE MALMQVIST
EBBA WADSTEIN
Green gamification - Designing for increased sustainable behavior
and business growth
Caroline Malmqvist, Ebba Wadstein
May 2020
Abstract - This research aims to inves-tigate if gamification is a suitable method for creating stronger incentives for people to recycle. The research was conducted in partnership with PantaP˚a, the world’s first deposit app for recycling packaging. The processes of this research were first a comprehensive and meticulous review of theory and previous research resulting in a preliminary framework consisting of criti-cal success factors when gamifying for im-proved recycling behavior. This framework was presented in combination with nine dif-ferent possible gamification-features, that also was evaluated using this framework. Subsequently, a focus group of five experts evaluated and complemented the framework based on the outcome from the discussions. The final framework consisting of six critical success factors, was then used, in coopera-tion with the focus group, to evaluate if gamification would be successful for Pan-taP˚as to reach its objective to improve re-cycling behavior. The result showed that it would be changeling to use gamification to create stronger incentives for consumers to recycle. However, gamification can be used in PantaP˚a’s app to increase the time to spend using the app, and consequently in-creased customer acquisition and retention. The conclusion is that gamification can be used in the context of recycling, suggested that the critical success factors from the framework are fulfilled to reach the target goal with the implementation.
Abstrakt - Det h¨ar arbetet syftar till att unders¨oka huruvida gamification ¨ar en l¨amplig metod f¨or att skapa incitament f¨or
att f˚a m¨anniskor att ˚atervinna en st¨orre andel av deras f¨orbrukade f¨orpackningar. Arbetet utf¨ordes i samarbete med Pan-taP˚a, ett f¨oretag som erbjuder v¨arldens f¨orst app f¨or panting av f¨orpackningar. Ar-betet kan delas in i tre huvudsakliga pro-cesser. Den f¨orsta processen bestod av en omfattande och nogrann utredning av tidi-gare forskning samt teori. Det resulterade i ett prelimin¨art ramverk best˚aende av kri-tiska framg˚angs faktorer som b¨or uppfyl-las vid implementation av gamification f¨or ¨
okad insamlingsgrad, tillsammans med nio olika m¨ojliga game-element som ¨aven anal-yserats med hj¨alp av detta ramverk. Den tredje huvudsakliga processen bestod av en fokusgrupp p˚a fem experter vars syfte var att utv¨ardera och komplettera ramverket utifr˚an deras respektive expertis omr˚aden. Det slutgiltiga ramverket, som best˚ar av sex kristiska framg˚angsfaktorer, anv¨andes sedan f¨or att utv¨ardera om gamification skulle vara en lyckat metod f¨or PantaP˚a i syfte att f¨orb¨attra ˚atervinningsgraden i Sverige. Re-sultatet visade att det kan bli sv˚art f¨or dem att uppfylla alla faktorer i ramverket och d¨arav finns det utmaningar med att anv¨anda gamification f¨or att f˚a fler att utf¨ora sj¨alva ˚atervinningsaktiviteten. D¨aremot skulle gamification kunna anv¨andas i PantaP˚ a-appen f¨or att ¨oka appens anv¨anding och s˚aledes ¨oka kundlojalitet och kundf¨orv¨arv hos PantaP˚a. Sammanfattningsvis kan gamification anv¨andast i syfte til att ¨oka m¨aniskors ben¨agenhet att ˚atervinna, givet att de framg˚angsfaktorer som n¨amndes i ramverket uppfylls.
2
1
Introduction
The world’s population is increasing and therefore also the consumption of different products. There is an enormous need for going towards a more cir-cular economy, designed to benefit society, environ-ment and also the businesses. For the majority of the population in Sweden, it feels terrible to throw away jars and pet bottles in an ordinary trash bin. Imagine if this feeling would be the same for all types of packaging.
This study aims to investigate whether or not gamification can be a method for making people recycle a larger percentage of their consumed pack-ages. The arguments for and against implementing gamification for this target behavior are evaluated based on previous studies and also with input from experts in relevant areas. The result will be pre-sented in a framework with a number of critical success factors for doing a successful gamification implementation in this context. In addition to this framework, a prototype with nine different game components will be presented.
The review is written together with PantaP˚a, a Swedish startup with a mission to create value for every package. They are doing this by giving a deposit value directly into the customers’ mobile phones when scanning the packing while recycling. However, this requires that the customers find the received amount of cash or coupons worth the ef-fort they have to put in when recycling, and that’s not always the case. For that reason, this research will examine the effectiveness of gamification as a method for increased recycling in combination with PantaP˚a’s current reward system, with the ambi-tion to increase the recycling of all types of pack-ages to 100%.
2
Background
2.1
Description of research area
The main area of this research is Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Customer Relationship Manage-ment(CRM), and Gamification. HCI involves the planning, design, and studies of computer tech-nologies and, in particular, the interaction between users and computers[7]. CRM is ”the core business strategy that aims to create and maintain prof-itable relationships with customers by designing and delivering superior value propositions”[4]. It is based on in collecting and analyzing high-quality data to understand customer’s behavior patterns and needs and to develop a strong relationshipwith customers and enabled by information tech-nology [12]. Gamification has its foundations in games, game theory, and research of HCI. More-over, it is a phenomenon that has no universally accepted definition, but many previous studies and books have defined it in similar ways. Detering, Dixon, and Khaled present the description as fol-lows; ”Gamification is the use of game design el-ements in non-game contexts” [6]. Morschheuser, Hassan, Werder, and Hamari refer to gamification as ”the enrichment of software with design features known from games to invoke similarly engaging ex-periences as games do” [13]. Werbach and Hunter present the third definition as ”The use of game elements and game-design techniques in non-game contexts ”[18]. As it appears, many are agreeing that gamification is the use of game elements and in a non-game context to motivate desired behaviors, even though they formulate it in slightly different ways. In this study, the operational definition is as follows; ”Gamification is the application of game-design elements and game-thinking in a non-game context, used with a purpose to increase consumer engagement” and this definition underpins the rest of this paper.
The impact of gamification on customers’ will-ingness to recycled will be examined. Previous case studies will be reviewed, and interviews with ex-perts in relevant areas will be taken into consider-ation before presenting critical success factors for implementing gamification in this context. In the end, the aim is to create incentives for consumers to recycle a larger percentage of their consumed packages, which is beneficial for the business, soci-ety, and the environment.
2.2
The interest of client
Climate change is one of the world’s most critical issues. Recycling is an effective way to decrease the generation of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane. Furthermore, recycling ma-terials results in lower energy consumption when producing new products, which leads to fewer fossil fuels burned and reduced emissions of greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change1
Globally, Sweden is one of the countries that are recycling jars and pet bottles the most. The year 2018, 85% of all jars and pet bottles in Sweden were recycled [2]. Nonetheless, recycling behaviors can still be improved. PantaP˚a’s vision is create the first zero waste generation, in specific to give all types of packages a value. They are collaborat-ing with companies, such as Yes, Skogaholm, and
Apoteket AB, and the advantages for the compa-nies are increased sustainability equity, traffic, and customer loyalty. The consumers can recycle their packages in ordinary bins and then get rewarded with a deposit value -cash or coupons- directly into their mobile phones 2. The challenge with this is that these rewards may be too small in comparison to the consumers’ effort, which includes disposing of waste, download the app, find a nearby container and finally scan all the packages while recycling.
2.3
Goal and relevance
The goal of this work is to present critical suc-cess factors for gamification as a method for in-creased recycling behavior. This will be presented in a framework that can be used for recycling, but also other related sustainable behavioral patterns. The result of this work will also include a recom-mendation to PantaP˚a, whether or not gamifica-tion should be included in their business strategy for customer relation or not.
The research is technologically relevant for many reasons. Examining tools and technology for growth and increased recycling is not only of significance to businesses but also to the environ-ment. Furthermore, all businesses interacting with consumer trough technology will benefit from un-derstanding the effect that gamification has on con-sumer retention and growth. There is also of im-portance to understand the critical factors and lim-itations of gamification, as well as understanding different game features and how to evaluate them given a specific business or situation.
Moreover, the prototypes presented can be used as a foundation for programmers at PantaP˚a with deciding to implement gamification in their current app, minimizing time and effort in designing for gamification.
This study mainly concerns three of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs). These are goal number 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure, goal number 11: Sustainable cities and communities and goal number 13: Cli-mate Action3. The ambition of this study is to contribute with new knowledge if gamification is an effective method to make individuals act in a way that aligns with these goals. The findings of the study can also be used for future studies within these areas.
2.4
Scientific question of research
The question that this study evaluating is:What are the critical success factors for implement-ing gamification as a method for increasimplement-ing con-sumers’ tendency to recycle?
2.5
Specified problem definition
The scientific question will be answered by dividing the question into tree sub-queries: 1) What criti-cal success factors for gamification frequently ap-pear in previous studies and litterateur? 2) How do experts on the subject grade these factors and what are there additional factors missing from pre-vious studies and literature? 3) If gamification is a suitable method for increasing recycling behavior, which game components are recommended to full fill the critical success factors?2.6
Delimitations
Because of limited time and resources, any gamifi-cation features will not be implemented in Pan-taP˚a’s commercial app. Therefore the outcome of this study will not be quantitative. Conse-quently, it will not be possible to see any of the long term effects of possible gamification features in the app on the consumers’ behaviors. The method is, therefore, limited to a qualitative evaluation of the framework, and experts in relevant areas will eval-uate it. In future studies, it would be interesting to use the framework in practice, to choose whether or not to use the gamification as a tool for sustainable spark behaviors.
2.7
Expected result
The research hypothesis is that gamification can create a stronger incentive for consumers to use the PantaP˚a recycle app, increasing customer re-tention, and simultaneously increase consumer ac-quisition. PantaP˚a will therefore reach their overall objectives, improved recycle and decrease littering, and at the same time increase their revenue.
3
Theory
3.1
Motivation
The word motivation comes from the Latin mo-tives, meaning serving to move. To be motivated is to be moved to do something. There are two 2PantaP˚a.PantaP˚as website. 2020. https://www.pantapa.se. (accessed: 07.02.2020)
universal kinds of motivation. Wanting to do some-thing is called intrinsic motivation because, for the person involved, it lies inside the activity. On the other hand, feeling that you need to do something involves extrinsic motivation, because the motiva-tion lies outside [18]. It is most likely that recycling activities are linked to extrinsic motivation and not intrinsic motivation. Most people recycle because it has to be done, and not because it is particu-larly fun or enjoyable. To be able to design an efficient gamification system, it tremendously mat-ters to understand the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. By doing that, you can understand what types of mechanisms you can use to motivate the consumers.
3.2
Gamification
Gamification is the application of game-design el-ements and game-thinking in a non-game context. The purpose of gamification is to support user en-gagement and to enhance positive patterns in ser-vice use, such as increasing social interaction, or quality and productivity [8]. The interest and use of gamification has increased a lot in the last years, thanks to some essential enablers. These are, for example, web analytics to individuals and their behaviors and the current culture force of digital games. The method has proved successful in many areas, such as in the education sector (for exam-ple, Khan Academy and Quizlet), in health (Apple watch), and task management, to name a few [11]. Gamification also takes advantage of fun, com-petition, rewards and game features in different en-vironments to promote marketing practices to drive customers to sustainable behavior. Because this study is made together with the external partner PantaP˚a, the focus is on if gamification can be used to come over the individual hassles of recycling [1].
3.2.1 The DMC pyramid
DMC pyramid is a Game Element hierarchy pre-sented in Werbach and Hunter’s book ”For The Win - Take your business to the next level”. The pyramid is built by three categories of game ele-ments relevant to gamification; dynamics, mechan-ics and components. Dynammechan-ics are the big-picture aspects of the gamified system. They need to be considered and managed but can never be directly entered into the game. Examples of game dynam-ics are emotions, progression, relationships, narra-tives, and constraints. Mechanics are the basic pro-cesses that drive the action forward and generate player engagement. Challenges, competition, feed-back, rewards are some examples. Each mechanic
is tied to one or more dynamics. At the bottom of the pyramid, we find the components. Components are levels, badges, leaderboards, points, and com-bats to name a few, and are the most specific form of game elements. Each component is tied to one or more higher-level elements. Putting all these el-ements together and understanding their influence on each other is the central task of gamification design [18].
Based on previous studies, some important as-pects to take into consideration before implement-ing gamification are as follows:
3.2.2 Define business objectives
Professor Kevin Werbach has created the Gamifi-cation Design Framework, which is well-reviewed by many researchers. The first step of this frame-work is to ”Define business objectives”. It is criti-cal to think about the business goals to make sure that the gamified system benefits the organization. Therefore ultimate goal of gamification have to be defined [5]. According to PantaP˚a’s CEO Suwar Mert, their two fundamental business goals are:
• Increase the recycling ratio and decrease lit-tering.
• Create the first zero waste generation. Ev-erything should have a value.
3.2.3 Defining the target group
3.2.4 Delineate target behaviors
A third important aspect of successful implemen-tation of gamification is to define target behavior. In the context of recycling with PantaP˚a’s applica-tion, is the overall target behavior is the increase in the ratio of recycled packages compared with the consumed. But, the target behaviors should be concrete and specific[18], and therefore the overall target has to be broken down. Conceivable target behaviors are as follows:
• Download the app
• Use the app while recycling
• Go to a trash bin and scan all the packages • Recycling 100% of all their consumed
pack-ages
• Feel proud of recycling and feel that it is an obvious thing to recycle all types of packages.
• Knowledge about which are the recyclable products
3.2.5 Criticism of gamification
Although gamification has many advantages, some game designers argue that implementing game fea-tures, such as scores, badges, and leaderboards, is taking the least essentials of games and represent-ing it as the core of the experience. Accordrepresent-ing to the designer Margaret Robertson, the advantages of games arise from meaningful choices in the pur-suance of interestingly hard goals [11]. It is also important to point out that the implementation of gamification is time-consuming and costs resources. Therefore there is a need for researched-based de-cisions of why gamification is used in each specific case.
3.3
Previous Studies
There have been several previous studies about the effect of gamification to enhance customer engage-ment as well as encourage sustainability behavior. The research by Rory Mulcahy et al. investigates whether the use of gamified apps for sustainable consumption of energy may accrue benefits to con-sumers, businesses, and the environment. A field study was used, letting a sample of 1000 partic-ipants try the app for at least 10 minutes in to-tal for three months. For comparison, a control group was selected, not exposed to the gamified app, but provided pre- and post-survey data. On-line surveys, app analytics, and consumption data were used to identify the benefits of gamified apps
and their use for sustainable (decreased) energy consumption and monetary savings. The research showed the ability of game design elements to in-fluence enjoyment and knowledge, and current cus-tomers demonstrated real behavioral change [14]. This is concerning to this research as it shows that it is possible to make consumers act more sustain-able by using game mechanics.
The research The Energy Piggy Bank- A Seri-ous Game for Energy Conservation conducted by a group of KTH professors is also of great impor-tance to this study. The research presented a game design for helping people learn about their energy consumption and to support behavior change to-wards more sustainable energy habits. The pro-totype was tested on a group of 33 engineering students, which had been segmented using Bartle’s taxonomy of player types. The main result of the research was that using gamification was valuable in learning how to be more efficient at home. An-other finding was that there is a significant corre-lation between self-estimated future behavior and intrinsic motivation, indicating that intrinsic mo-tivation is an essential part of game design [10]. Consequently this research adds to the learning from other previous research, about what factors to consider when using gamification for improved sustainable behavior.
Other relevant research has confirmed game-mechanism, such as feedback, competition, re-wards, challenges, social engagement, and rules as necessary conditions to trigger intrinsic moti-vation [17]. Furthermore, several studies have also highlighted the importance of understanding and segmentation of the target group. Besides, it is also necessary to understand the requirements from stakeholders and to host organization, and ensur-ing that the goals of the system, stakeholders and organization align[15][13]. Based on these findings, stakeholder analysis for PantaP˚a and value chain analysis of recycling from households were made. See Appendix 10.1 and 10.2.
4
Method
The processes of this research were divided into three phases; Theoretical phase, Designing and de-velopment phase and Evaluation phase.
4.1
Theoretical phase
The purpose of this phase was to complete the search formulation. This included background re-search about the specific scientific areas, a stake-holder and value chain analysis, and a business can-vas model conducted on PantaP˚a. Consequently, the scientific question was defined to assure it aligned with PantaP˚a’s strategy and vision. The hypothesis was stated based on previous studies.
Furthermore, a review of previous studies, State of the Art, and two semi-structured interviews were constructed with KTH professors Bj¨orn Thuresson; manager for Visualisation Studio VIC at KTH, and Bj¨orn Hedin; expert in Digital Behavior Change. The purpose of this was to gain understanding and knowledge about effective gamification, behavior patterns, and possible limitations.
Subsequently, the data provided by PantaP˚a was analyzed to get ideas about the customers be-havior. The data points included customer ID, product name, date, time, and location. At that time, they had over 250.000 unique scannings.
The above have later been a foundation for the succeeding phases.
4.2
Designing phase
This phase’s purpose was to design and develop a prototype that can be used by PantaP˚a, or other similar business, in the future.
Based on the findings in the theoretical phase, a primary framework including critical factors of implementing gamification for improved recycling was formulated. This included carefully selected information from previous studies on gamification for sustainable behavior, and extracting the most frequently appearing factors associated with suc-cessful gamification. These factors were than eval-uated for each game-component that was designed later in this phase.
After that, research on what tool to use for de-veloping prototypes of the features was done. A critical condition of the device was that it was pos-sible to quickly deliver prototypes in a way that was not too time-consuming. The research showed that a tool named Marvel would fit these propri-eties. Therefore this was chosen. With the use of Marvel, a prototype with nine different gamifica-tion features were developed. See figure 1 in the
Result section.
4.3
Evaluation phase
To evaluate the primary framework, and the differ-ent game-compondiffer-ent created in the design phase, experts in the areas Gamification, Digital Behavior Change, Operations Strategy and Recycling, where invited to a workshop. The discussion from this session gave important perspectives and improve-ments to the framework were made, and framework was revised. The final framework is called ”Revised Framework” in the Result section of this paper. The experts in the focus group where:
• Bj¨orn Hedin, researcher at the department of Media Technology and Interaction Design (MID) at the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science(EECS) at KTH. He is researching within the area Digital Behav-ior Change, focused on designing and evalu-ating digital behaviour change solutions for sustainable development.
• Bj¨orn Thuresson, manager of the Visualisa-tion Studio VIC at KTH. He is teaching, reserach and business liasions in advanced graphics, interaction and visualisation.
• Jannis Angelis, assistant professor qualified Docent in Operations Strategy at Indek at KTH. With an interest in strategies and operational capabilities for sustainable com-petitiveness, his current research explores, among other topics, Change management and sustainability. In this area, he and his colleagues investigate how gamification can create staff motivation and behavioural change needed for successful implementation of change projects.
• Veronica Foberg Gustafsson, Head of commu-nications at FTI, a large Swedish company, providing all companies with access to the na-tionwide recycling system for packaging and newspapers.
• Malin Ryding, communications strategist at FTI.
5
Result and analysis
The result consists of four primary parts: a proto-type with nine different gamification features, a pri-mary framework representing critical success fac-tors to be considered before implementing
gamifi-cation for improved recycling behavior, a revised framework based on the findings from the focus group, and finally an assessment on PantaP˚a’s abilities to implement gamification based on this framework.
5.1
Prototype with nine different game features
5.2
Primary Framework
The primary framework is based on critical fac-tors found from theory and previous studies on gamification. These are; the three dimensions of Werbach and Hunter’s DMC Pyramid (Dynamics, Mechanics, Components), the player types,
moti-vation type (Intrinsic or Extrinsic), the alignment with PantaP˚a’s overall business goals and finally any successful State-of-the-art. For each prototype presented in the previous section, these factors were used to evaluate the specific prototype, resulting in a 14x9 matrix to evaluate a given prototype based on these factors.
5.3
Revised Framework
The interviewed experts unified opinion was that many of the factors in the primary frame-work were too game-specific and that other critical success factors were of greater importance when considering gamification for sustainable behavior change. As a result, the Focus group discussions resulted in a revised framework, with less focus on prototypes and game features. The left side of the framework are factors (paraphrased) from the primary framework, that the focus-group experts agreed to be critical success factors. The right side of the framework is critical success factors com-posed during the focus group.
5.4
Findings
from
the
the
focus
group (The right side of the
framework)
The following critical success factors were a result of the discussion during the focus group, with the experts mentioned above.
Include relevant statistics and facts about the impact of the recycling actions
A critical success facto mentioned during the focus group was the importance of incorporating
Comparison with consumption is needed All the experts agreed that it is of great importance to specify whether the target behavior is to increase recycling per person, or if the goal is to increase the percentage of recycled packages of the consumed packages. Veronica Foberg Gustafsson and Ma-lin Ryding from FTI mentioned in the discussion that they are often struggling with analyzing the statistic over recycling because increased recycling can, on the one hand, indicate that more people are recycling a larger percentage of their consumed packages. On the other hand, it can mean that the overall consumption has increased. Jannis Angles also pointed out that the target behavior should be evident before applying gamification mechanisms. The general target behavior should be to increase the percentage of recycled packages of the con-sumed packages. This is more relevant for creating sustainable behavior, and therefore, a gamified sys-tem for recycling should also include the consumed volume.
Limited or none use of digital devices while recycling
Both Bj¨orn Hedin and Jannis Angles stated that in order to enable behavior change, the gamified task should not be made more difficult than the original task. In other words when gamifying recycling the added element of using the phone simultaneously, might cause the user to experience the task as even more of a burden. This is in agreement with Ma-lin Ryding who compared with Khan Academy’s successful gamified education. Malin argued that a big part of education is already performed with the use of an computer so the step to use gamified programs on the computer is relative small. This line of thought can also be applied to Nike Run Club, which is a gamified app to motivate people to go out running. Thanks to GPS-trackers the gamified app does not add time nor effort to the task itself, but merely try to make it more cheerful 4. In conclusion when gamifying recycling one crit-ical success factor is that the task itself does not add extra layers of effort.
5.5
Applying
the
Framework
for
PantaP˚
a
The following is a analysis of PantaP˚a using the above framework, to evaluate if gamification for improved recycling behavior should or could be
im-plemented at PantaP˚a.
Include relevant statistics and facts about he impact of the recycling actions Firstly, PantaP˚a is already using visualization of data, and CO2 emis-sion comparisons. In addition these comparisons are selected so that the recycling activity feels effec-tive and meaningful. However, both Bj¨orn Hedin and Jannis Angles stated that also including infor-mation about the entire life cycle of the packaged product, can be value adding for the consumers, and motivate not only recycling but more sustain-able behaviors.
Comparison with consumption is needed Sec-ondly, PantaP˚a does not currently have any data about consumers consumption, to compare with. Therefore, it is not possible with the current solu-tion to base the game mechanics on data about the ratio of recycled packages and consumed packages. According to Peter Drucker, ”what gets measure get managed”, and if the overall targeted behav-ior should align with the business objective, 100% recycled ratio, this is what needs to be measured.
Limited or none use of digital devices while re-cycling Thirdly, the PantaP˚a app is adding a extra layer of effort to the recycling, which based on the framework can demotivate the task. PantaP˚a have recently implemented a feature with this objective which may make them more suitable for gamifica-tion. However it is important that a possible gam-ified feature does not again add that layer of effort to recycling.
Clear defined target groups and target behaviors Both Malin Ryding, Veronica and statistics from PantaP˚a reveals that it is difficult to define a clear target group for recycling. Even though the age group 18-24 could be a interesting target, due to a low engagement in recycling, it is too diverse to find common user needs, objectives or even crit-ical/targeted behaviors. Malin clarified that two defined reasons why this group recycle less depends on external practicalities, such as to small space at home to divide and store garbage, or to long dis-tance to closest recycling station. However, all the experts of the research group agrees that the rea-sons for not recycling various heavily and it might make it hard to target a specific behavior to a spe-cific group. In addition it should be clarified if the target behavior is make people recycling or make people recycling with PantaP˚as application.
to be attainable and time based, to be considered SMART.
Trigger extrinsic motivation As mentioned in the Theory section of this research, recycling is most likely triggered by extrinsic motivation, for the majority of all people. It is not likley that people do recycling because its fun and therefore it will never be intrinsically enjoyable. In this types of case, previous studies have presented that extrinsic rewards have to be used to change peo-ple’s behavior. Therefore PantaP˚a can possible use gamification with extrinsic mechanisms, to trigger target behavior.
Recommendation to PantaP˚a
The focus group agreed that based on the framework used, it could be hard to reach the tar-get behavior, with the use of gamification in Pan-taP˚a’s app, to improve recycling behavior. How-ever, gamification has proven successful for im-proving real sustainable behavior change, and if PantaP˚a regardless want to implement gamifica-tion there is a couple of things to be consider-ate. Firstly the target group from the gamified version needs to be narrowed down from the en-tire population, based on similar external practi-calities and critical behaviors. For example gam-ification that targets recycling in compact living situations. Consequently it will be easier to define the critical behaviors. Moreover the extra layer of effort,scanning packages while recycling, must be minimized or justified by offering more informa-tion and adding value to the consumer. Further more, the data visualized must align with the over-all objective, hence the recycled amount must be compared to the consumption.
If implementing gamification in the commercial app, the prototype presented in the Result sec-tion of this paper can be handed over to a de-veloper for implementation. The combination of the game-components is motivating all different player types (Achievers, explorers, socializers, and killers), touching different dynamics and mechan-ics, and trigger mainly extrinsic motivation. There are also several State-of-the-Art for all of the game components.
6
Discussion
The result presented does not agree with the ex-pected resulted presented in section 2.7 Exex-pected result. It will be changeling to use gamification to create a stronger incentives for consumers to recy-cle. However, if using the framework and
precau-tions stated in the recommendation to PantaP˚a, gamification can possibly create strong incentives for a defined target group with defined critical be-haviors. Alternatively, gamification can be used in PantaP˚a’s app to increase the time spend in the app and the recycling action can be seen as a second action in the customer journey. In either case, the primary framework can be used (secondly to the re-vised framework), to better analyser and evaluate possible gamification features.
If gamification is implemented in a efficient way, with right mechanisms behind it, that could crease customers retention, and simultaneously in-crease consumer acquisition.
6.1
Benefits of the Framework
This framework is a complement to the previous research conducted on gamification as a method for improved long term sustainable behavior. This framework focus solely on gamification as a method for improved long term recycling behavior and can therefore provide more guidance for PantaP˚a and other companies with similar objectives. However, the critical success factors in this framework can be applied complimentary to other research when eval-uation the usefulness of gamification in any busi-nesses interacting with consumer trough technol-ogy.The framework is developed together with ex-perts in several different areas, which gives it proper dimensions in both operations Strategy and Interaction Design (HCI) and recycling behav-ior. Their different expertise knowledge and back-ground resulted in stimulating discussions and find-ings for this work.
7
Limitations and future
re-search
The limitation of this work is that gamification has not been applied in practice to evaluate if this is a good method for sparking people to recycle a larger percentage of their consumed packaging. The method for this research is therefore quality based rather than quantity. In future research, it can be of interest to conduct a quantity based eval-uation.
can be without game elements. If this further eval-uation is conducted, it is essential to secure enough time for the testing period, to properly evaluate the effect. In comparison to recent studies, three months were needed to examine consumer retention [14].
Moreover, this study has been based on previ-ous reviews and knowledge from experts. Almost no inclusion of end customers has been included in the development of the framework. In future studies, it may be of interest to include interviews, forms, or other types of data collection from end customers as well. It can lead to a better under-standing of the target group and their motivation for recycling.
8
Conclusion
The conclusion from this work is that there are some critical success factors to take into considera-tion before the implementaconsidera-tion of gamificaconsidera-tion for creating stronger incentives for consumers to recy-cle. From previous studies, the main essential ele-ments of success are to define clear target groups and target behaviors and also to specify business goals. From the focus group, some more relevant critical success factors were founded. These were that the gamified system should include relevant statistics and facts about the impact of the recy-cling actions and that the number of recycled pack-ages has to be compared with the consumed value of packages. The last critical success factor was to limit the use of digital devices while recycling, to come over the extra layer of effort to the recycling activity. The overall conclusion is that gamifica-tion can be used in this context, but all these criti-cal success factors are essential to reach the target goal with the implementation. The findings from this research paper will have practical importance for businesses or governments that are evaluating if gamification is a suitable method for improved recycling behavior. Moreover, this study has con-tributed to new knowledge to future studies.
9
Acknowledgments
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Caroline Malmqvist is pursing a Bachelor of Sci-ence in Industrial Engineering and Management at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden. Caroline’s contribution to this study con-sisted of structuring the process of the work, such as planning the structure the two different phases of the method. However, the study is mainly a result of extensive collaboration between the authors.
