The Effect of Playful Work Design on Psychological Needs and Work Outcomes: A Video-Vignette Experiment

Modern work challenges highlight the necessity for proactive strategies to maintain engagement and performance. As one such proactive strategy, playful work design (PWD) enables employees to build fun and competition into their tasks to stay engaged in monotonous or demanding conditions. Although diary and longitudinal research link PWD to positive outcomes, experimental evidence isolating its core functionality is scarce. Grounded in the Job Demands-Resources model and Self-Determination Theory, this preregistered study provides one of the first experimental assessments of PWD, using a between-subjects 2 (fun: yes vs. no) x 2 (competition: yes vs. no) factorial design. A total of 195 participants were randomly assigned to one of four vignette conditions. Participants in PWD conditions anticipated higher work engagement, task performance, positive affect, and flow at work than the control group. However, when fun and competition were both present, the positive associations of each strategy were mutually attenuated, offering new insight into how we should apply PWD. An additional analysis examined whether psychological need satisfaction mediated the effect of PWD on anticipated flow at work. These findings offer a foundation for understanding how playful strategies can be designed to enhance motivation at work.