Strategies and design principles to minimize negative side-effects of digital motivation on teamwork

Abstract

Digital Motivation in business refers to the use of technology in order to facilitate a change of attitude, perception and behaviour with regards to adopting policies, achieving goals and executing tasks. It is a broad term to indicate existing and emerging paradigms such as Gamification, Persuasive Technology, Serious Games and Entertainment Computing. Our previous research indicated risks when applying Digital Motivation. One of these main risks is the impact it can have on the interpersonal relationships between colleagues and their individual and collective performance. It may lead to a feeling of unfairness and trigger negative group processes (such as social loafing and unofficial clustering) and adverse work ethics. In this paper, we propose a set of strategies to minimize such risks and then consolidate these strategies through an empirical study involving managers, practitioners and users. The strategies are then analysed for their goal, stage and purpose of use to add further guidance. The strategies and their classification are meant to inform developers and management on how to design, set-up and introduce Digital Motivation to a business environment, maximize its efficiency and minimize its side-effects on teamwork.