Gamifying RPI: The benefits of avatars and knowledge-induced coworker familiarity

Williams Jr., Jeffrey O

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/108107 Copy

Description

Title

Gamifying RPI: The benefits of avatars and knowledge-induced coworker familiarity

Author(s)

Williams Jr., Jeffrey O

Issue Date

2020-04-13

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Hobson, Jessen

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Hobson, Jessen

Committee Member(s)

• Hecht, Gary
• Mehta, Ravi
• Williamson, Michael

Department of Study

Accountancy

Discipline

Accountancy

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• relative performance information
• RPI
• avatars
• familiarity
• helping behavior

Abstract

The growth of the gamification industry has increased the use of avatar-enhanced leaderboards as a method of providing public relative performance information (RPI). This study examines the effect of representing employees as humanlike avatars in public leaderboards on employees’ effort to improve their leaderboard performance (i.e., self-focused effort). Additionally, since practitioners have expressed concern that competition induced by leaderboards may reduce helping behavior, I also examine the effect of humanlike avatars on subsequent helping behavior toward coworkers on unrelated tasks (i.e., others-focused effort). Using an experiment, I find that representing employees with humanlike avatars increases both self-focused and subsequent others-focused effort when coworkers know little about each other, but that humanlike avatars do not increase either form of effort when coworkers know relatively more about each other. A supplemental experiment demonstrates that these effects are robust to using both humanlike silhouettes and headshot photographs as alternative forms of avatars. My study suggests that when deciding whether to provide public RPI via avatar-enhanced leaderboards, managers ought to consider the existing social environment in which employees operate.

Graduation Semester

2020-05

Type of Resource

Thesis

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/108107

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2020 Jeffrey Williams Jr.

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