Decolonizing research using gamification: The case of Choco

Abstract

New practices, such as virus transmission-prevention practices during the COVID-19 pandemic, often originate in specific environments and fail to transcend in environments that are different from the original one. This was the case in Indigenous communities in Colombia, who perceived them as an extension of colonial practices. In this article, we discuss the impact of co-development of a gamified poster as a medium for decolonizing management research. We conceptualize the poster as a boundary object and demonstrate how gamification becomes a methodological innovation that affords new practices to be negotiated by using the framework of Carlile. Our analysis of the process of co-developing the poster with Indigenous representatives and introducing it in the communities shows that in extreme contexts with little shared knowledge, boundary spanning undergoes several cycles. Each cycle builds and expands shared context and knowledge base and deepens the engagement. We enable better understanding of how boundary objects work in extreme contexts and how the sociomateriality of practice manifested in the gamified boundary object mediates the negotiation of new practices. Furthermore, we propose a novel method within Indigenous research methodologies of using gamification for development in overcoming linguistic challenges and more equitable participation.