Beyond points and badges: Unveiling the impact of gamification in management studies

The viability of gamified mechanics in offering engaging and transformative experiences for optimizing the user experience holds endless possibilities across various business models. Consequently, the application of gamification to management processes has garnered significant attention from both scholars and practitioners. Despite rapid progress in this field, knowledge boundaries regarding current and potential future research remain fragmented. The study undertakes a descriptive analysis of 1294 articles extracted from the Scopus database in the first section, identifying the leading contributors and enabling a quick overview of ongoing trends. The following section presents a systematic review of 97 qualified articles in the marketing domain. This study aims to synthesize the gamification literature and its implications by employing the theories, context, characteristics, and methods (TCCM) framework to outline its content and findings. This study highlights the significance of engagement in gamified settings, focusing on the varied dimensions that foster meaningful outcomes. Drawing on psychological frameworks like Self-Determination Theory and Flow Theory, the work highlights growing ability of gamification in shaping user behaviour. Overall, the study suggests a shift from engagement tools to richer experience-driven strategies. By outlining key gaps and offering future research roadmap, this review offers a structured path for advancing gamification research and practice.