Changing the Game : A Case for Gamifying Knowledge Management

Purpose: This exploratory paper investigates gamification as a medium for knowledge workers to interact with each other. The paper aims to open the discussion around the sustaining impact that gamification might have on knowledge management. Design/methodology/approach: The paper employs an exploratory literature review investigating the current state of the art in relation to knowledge management and gamification; this literature review serves as the starting point of subsequent theorizing. Findings: Based on the literature review we theorize that the use of gamification in knowledge management can go far beyond the motivational aspects. To name just a few uses of gamification, it can help in: supporting flexibility, facilitating transparency and therefore improving trust, visualizing skills and competences as well as generating requirements for new competences, and promoting a collaborative environment among the knowledge workers. Research limitations/implications: This paper opens the discussion around knowledge management and gamification and suggests a wide range of areas for further research. Practical implications: In this paper we argue that by looking at gamification as more than just a set of tools for improving motivation and engagement a company can address some pitfalls of a particular type of knowledge workers. Social implications: Originality/value: Gamification is a new, but increasingly popular approach, which has been shown to be to be powerful in many areas. This paper is novel in that it initiates a dialogue around the impact that gamification might have on knowledge management

Stepping Into the Participants’ Shoes:The Trans-Positional Cognition Approach

To conduct a phenomenological study, researchers often follow the principles from either the descriptive or interpretive phenomenological schools of thought. This constrains researchers within the domain and limits the potentials of their data set. This paper introduces the Trans-Positional Cognition Approach (TPCA) as a novel synthesised phenomenological research method for conducting qualitative research to address this challenge. The TPCA synthesises the principles of the descriptive and interpretive phenomenological schools and helps to bridge the divide occasioned by polemical arguments between them. At the heart of TPCA is the process of trans-positional cognition or, in simple words, "stepping into the participants' shoes". TPCA, within the phenomenological tradition, proposes a structured methodological approach as a way to reduce the complexity of the extant methods, which novice researchers associate with phenomenology. The purpose of TPCA is not to pit one phenomenological research approach against another but to elucidate an inclusive approach to phenomenological research that can serve as a methodological alternative. A set of dimensions is used to compare TPCA with extant descriptive and interpretive phenomenological approaches in order to demonstrate its distinctiveness. Furthermore, an implementation study illustrates the use of the TPCA. Hence, the TPCA, by bridging the divide between the phenomenological schools of thought, could potentially help sustain the growing interest of researchers in phenomenological research

Model of learning ability

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Investigating the potential for using gamification to empower knowledge workers

The increasingly popular trend of gamification has proved powerful in many areas, such as education and marketing, and has started making its way to the corporate environment. This exploratory study is focused on a particular part of corporate applications – using gamification to empower knowledge workers and to help them to interact with each other. Based on a review of the extant literature and an exploratory case study, we conceptualise different ways in which gamification supports knowledge workers and influences the dynamics of their interactions. The case study we present is that of online retailer Zappos who have been pioneers in this field. This paper is intended as the beginning of a journey towards utilising gamification in various aspects of knowledge work. Through studying the Zappos case, we draw out key learning points that can be used by other organisations in their journey to use gamification to empower knowledge workers. The paper also identifies areas for further research relevant to expert and intelligent systems, including the potential for synergies between gamification and intelligent systems, and the use of gamification in intelligent systems implementation