The impacts of gamification designs on consumer purchase: A use and gratification theory perspective

Abstract

Gamification design in e-commerce ecosystems has developed rapidly, attracting scholars' and managers' attention. The E-commerce ecosystem includes multiple players, including buyers, sellers and platforms. Therefore, it is important to investigate the impact of platform gamification design on purchase behavior and explore the underlying impact mechanisms. Based on self-determination theory, three types of gamification design features (i.e., goals, personalization, and interaction) were identified and found to produce different motivational incentives among users, which satisfied consumers' needs of competence, autonomy, and socializing. Further, a structural model based on the use and gratification theory is proposed to explain the mechanism underlying the impact of gamification design on consumer purchase behavior. Data were collected and analyzed using Mplus, and theoretical and practical implications were identified.