Liu Hui, Gao Jiachen
International Business School, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, China.
Front Psychol. 2025 Jul 2;16:1494789. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1494789. eCollection 2025.
As economic and social development continues, the values and behavioral patterns within society are undergoing profound transformations, posing significant challenges to traditional enterprise management models. To enhance employee engagement and improve workplace efficiency, gamification design has increasingly gained attention in both theoretical discourse and practical enterprise management. This study aims to elucidate the mechanisms by which workplace gamification influences employee creativity, addressing urgent managerial challenges arising from the normalization of remote work and the increasing prevalence of Generation Z employees.
Based on flow theory, this study analyzed survey data collected from 217 Chinese enterprise employees (84 males, 133 females; 83.87% aged 18-42) from January to February 2024. Intrinsic motivation was employed as the mediating variable, and employee acceptance of work gamification served as the moderating variable.
The findings reveal that work gamification significantly enhances employee creativity, with intrinsic motivation serving a pivotal mediating role. Furthermore, employee acceptance of work gamification moderates the relationship between gamification and intrinsic motivation; specifically, a higher level of acceptance strengthens the positive impact of gamification on intrinsic motivation. Additionally, acceptance level further moderates the mediating effect of intrinsic motivation on the relationship between work gamification and creativity. When employee acceptance is high, the indirect effect of gamification on creativity through intrinsic motivation is more pronounced.
The study offers substantial theoretical and practical contributions. Its findings enrich theoretical understanding regarding workplace gamification mechanisms (e.g., points, task challenges, virtual rewards) and boundary conditions, while also providing practical insights for enterprises aiming to effectively utilize gamification strategies to stimulate employee creativity.
随着经济社会持续发展，社会价值观和行为模式正在经历深刻变革，给传统企业管理模式带来重大挑战。为提高员工敬业度和工作场所效率，游戏化设计在理论探讨和企业实际管理中越来越受到关注。本研究旨在阐明工作场所游戏化影响员工创造力的机制，应对远程工作常态化和Z世代员工日益普遍所带来的紧迫管理挑战。
基于心流理论，本研究分析了2024年1月至2月从217名中国企业员工（84名男性，133名女性；83.87%年龄在18 - 42岁之间）收集的调查数据。将内在动机作为中介变量，员工对工作游戏化的接受程度作为调节变量。
研究结果表明，工作游戏化显著提高员工创造力，内在动机起到关键中介作用。此外，员工对工作游戏化的接受程度调节游戏化与内在动机之间的关系；具体而言，更高的接受程度会加强游戏化对内在动机的积极影响。此外，接受程度进一步调节内在动机在工作游戏化与创造力关系中的中介作用。当员工接受程度较高时，游戏化通过内在动机对创造力的间接影响更为显著。
该研究提供了重要的理论和实践贡献。其研究结果丰富了关于工作场所游戏化机制（如积分、任务挑战、虚拟奖励）和边界条件的理论理解，同时也为旨在有效利用游戏化策略激发员工创造力的企业提供了实践见解。
