Gamification as a mean of driving online consumer behaviour: Sor model perspective

Abstract

Gamification recently attracted attention from practitioners and researchers aiming to gain understanding about gamification applicability. According to forecasts of various market research agencies, application of gamification in activities of companies increases and gamification market growth will continue in the future. As gamification is usually focused on customers, it is naturally related to consumer behaviour. However, there is a lack of studies approaching gamification from consumer behaviour perspective. Because gamification is strongly driven by information technologies, the paper seeks to propose an integrated framework for gamification impact on online consumer behaviour. In order to achieve it, the paper explores origins of gamification concept, compares it to similar concepts, proposes gamification definition and provides an overview of the pyramid of key gamification elements: game components, game mechanics, game dynamics. The further paper analyses different models of online consumer behaviour with emphasis on the application of the stimulus-organism-reaction (SOR) model. SOR model is used for characterising online stimulus (company controlled elements) and their impact on online consumer behaviour. In order to develop the framework, interdependencies of approaches of the pyramid of key gamification elements and SOR model are analysed by identifying factors related to the virtual environment, process, and social dimensions.