Knowledge transfer in software development teams using gamification: a quasi-experiment

Abstract

Knowledge transfer in software development teams allows their members’ non-externalized knowledge to be collected, to form the organizational knowledge from a repository and share it among them. During this process, difficulties may arise in making this knowledge available, which may be associated with the lack of collaboration and motivation of the team, as well as poor communication and little support from the organization. Given these difficulties, the GamifiK strategy, supported by gamification, was proposed to foster collaboration in the transfer of knowledge in software development teams. This paper used an empirical research approach with a quasi-experimental design in an academic context to evaluate the collaboration of agile team members in sharing their knowledge and contributing to knowledge transfer. A statistically significant increase in team productivity was perceived, reflected in the ability to perform more user stories per sprint and complete incidents in less time. GamifiK is a promising strategy for fostering collaborative knowledge transfer across software development teams.