Gamification as a Learning Tool for Pro-Environmental Behavior: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Although games provide a certain degree of entertainment, gamification is subtly affecting the behavior of users. Teaching the public to practice pro-environmental behavior (PEB) through gamification has gained an increasing amount of attention and concern in academic circles. As a relatively new research field, a systematic literature review (SLR) on gamification as a learning tool for PEB was conducted using articles with the publication date of 2007 to the present. By reviewing 56 articles from the Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar databases, the following findings were made: (1) gamification elements mainly represented by reward, feedback, competition, points, goal, leaderboards, challenge, meaning are the PEB learning tools that authors displayed most concern with; (2) improving energy efficiency and reducing carbon emission were the most commonly learned PEBs via gamification; and (3) the self-determination theory, the goal framing theory, the theory of planned behavior and the Octalysis framework were the most commonly applied theories in the research field of gamification and PEB.