Gamification in organisational communities: identity and materiality of game elements

Gamification is a growing field of study in the management literature, and its impact on the situated, practice-based learning remains a promising direction of research. To build the further ground for application and study in this area, in this paper we discuss the impact which the gamification approaches can have on organizational Communities of Practice (CoPs). We observe this question by focusing on the role of gamified materiality in building CoP members’ sense of mutual identification. Within the gamified context, members develop relationships with fictional characters who thereby become enacted as non-material actors, and hence achieve a form of personification. Furthermore, within the gamified space and time, CoP members use game elements to re-negotiate their identities or even adopt new identities. Thereby, gamification becomes something more than merely a motivational device, but rather a profound organizational process which touches on the very texture of organizing as it meshes with practitioners’ identities.