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Charting the Evolution and Future of Conversational Agents: A Research Agenda Along Five Waves and New Frontiers

2023-04-20 , Schöbel, Sofia , Schmitt, Anuschka , Benner, Dennis , Saqr, Mohammed , Janson, Andreas , Leimeister, Jan Marco

Conversational agents (CAs) have come a long way from their first appearance in the 1960s to today's generative models. Continuous technological advancements such as statistical computing and large language models allow for an increasingly natural and effortless interaction, as well as domain-agnostic deployment opportunities. Ultimately, this evolution begs multiple questions: How have technical capabilities developed? How is the nature of work changed through humans' interaction with conversational agents? How has research framed dominant perceptions and depictions of such agents? And what is the path forward? To address these questions, we conducted a bibliometric study including over 5000 research articles on CAs. Based on a systematic analysis of keywords, topics, and author networks, we derive "five waves of CA research" that describe the past, present, and potential future of research on CAs. Our results highlight fundamental technical evolutions and theoretical paradigms in CA research. Therefore, we discuss the moderating role of big technologies, and novel technological advancements like OpenAI GPT or BLOOM NLU that mark the next frontier of CA research. We contribute to theory by laying out central research streams in CA research, and offer practical implications by highlighting the design and deployment opportunities of CAs.

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Two decades of game concepts in digital learning environments – A bibliometric study and research agenda

2021 , Schöbel, Sofia , Mohammed, Saqr , Janson, Andreas

In recent years, using game concepts for educational purposes in digital environments has become continually more popular and relevant. Games can be used to motivate and engage users in regular system use and, in the end, support learners in achieving better learning outcomes. In this context, different kinds of game concepts exist, such as gamification or serious games, each with a different perspective and usefulness in digital learning environments. Because developing and using with game concepts in digital learning environments has recently become more important, and developing them is still not fully established, questions arise about future research directions involving games in digital learning. Therefore, this study aims to identify the state of the field and determine what is relevant when using game concepts in digital learning. To achieve this goal, we present the results of a bibliometric analysis considering more than 10,000 articles between 2000 and 2019 and summarize them to develop a research agenda. This agenda supports researchers and practitioners in identifying avenues for future research. We contribute to theory by providing a detailed understanding of the relevance of game concepts in digital learning. We propose a research agenda to assist researchers in planning future approaches with and about gamification concepts in digital learning. Practical implications are proposed by demonstrating what should be considered when using game concepts in learning environments.

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Capturing the complexity of gamification elements: a holistic approach for analysing existing and deriving novel gamification designs

2020-10-19 , Schöbel, Sofia , Janson, Andreas , Söllner, Matthias

Gamification is a well-known approach that refers to the use of elements to increase the motivation of information systems users. A remaining challenge in gamification is that no shared understanding of the meaning and classification of gamification elements currently exists. This impedes guidance concerning analysis and development of gamification concepts, and often results in non-effective gamification designs. The goal of our research is to consolidate current gamification research and rigorously develop a taxonomy, as well as to demonstrate how a systematic classification of gamification elements can provide guidance for the gamification of information systems and improve understanding of existing gamification concepts. To achieve our goal, we develop a taxonomic classification of gamification elements before evaluating this taxonomy using expert interviews. Furthermore, we provide evidence as to the taxonomy’s feasibility using two practical cases: First, we show how our taxonomy helps to analyse existing gamification concepts; second, we show how our taxonomy can be used for guiding the gamification of information systems. We enrich theory by introducing a novel taxonomy to better explain the characteristics of gamification elements, which will be valuable for both gamification analysis and design. This paper will help guide practitioners to select and combine gamification elements for their gamification concepts.

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Towards Conversational Co-Creation of Learning Content in Digital Higher Education

2022-12-11 , Benner, Dennis , Janson, Andreas , Schöbel, Sofia

Today formal education like higher education relies on digital learning content like learning videos or quizzes. Using such online learning material enables students to learn independently from time and place. While improvements have been made, there are still many issues as the two-year long crisis in 2020 has revealed. Many offerings do not consider the learners’ needs and can result in unsuccessful learning. One way to address these short comings is to actively include learners in the creation process of learning content. However, co-creation oftentimes relies on face to face and or group settings that may not be possible for all students at all times. Therefore, we undertake a long-term action design research project to investigate the novel concept of conversational co-creation of learning material using a conversational agent and persuasive design to engage and motivate learners. In this article we present an early-stage prototype and concept of conversational co-creation.

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How to Achieve Ethical Persuasive Design: A Review and Theoretical Propositions for Information Systems

2022-12-29 , Benner, Dennis , Schöbel, Sofia , Janson, Andreas , Leimeister, Jan Marco

Persuasive system design (PSD) is an umbrella term for designs in information systems (IS) that can influence people’s attitude, behavior, or decision making for better or for worse. On the one hand, PSD can improve users’ engagement and motivation to change their attitude, behavior, or decision making in a favorable way, which can help them achieve a desired outcome and, thus, improve their wellbeing. On the other hand, PSD misuse can lead to unethical and undesirable outcomes, such as disclosing unnecessary information or agreeing to terms that do not favor users, which, in turn, can negatively impact their wellbeing. These powerful persuasive designs can involve concepts such as gamification, gamblification, and digital nudging, which all have become prominent in recent years and have been implemented successfully across different sectors, such as education, e-health, e-governance, e-finance, and digital privacy contexts. However, such persuasive influence on individuals raises ethical questions as PSD can impair users’ autonomy or persuade them towards a third party’s goals and, hence, lead to unethical decision-making processes and outcomes. In human-computer interaction, recent advances in artificial intelligence have made this topic particularly significant. These novel technologies allow one to influence the decisions that users make, to gather data, and to profile and persuade users into unethical outcomes. These unethical outcomes can lead to psychological and emotional damage to users. To understand the role that ethics play in persuasive system design, we conducted an exhaustive systematic literature analysis and 20 interviews to overview ethical considerations for persuasive system design. Furthermore, we derive potential propositions for more ethical PSD and shed light on potential research gaps.

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Unterstützung digitaler Bildungsprozesse durch interaktive gamifizierte Lernvideos - Wie innovative Lernvideos Motivation und Lernerfolg steigern können

2021-10-11 , Weinert, Tim , Benner, Dennis , Dickhaut, Ernestine , Janson, Andreas , Schöbel, Sofia , Leimeister, Jan Marco

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Meetings at Digital Workplaces – An Experimental Approach to Analyze Group Attachment and Organizational Commitment in Digital Worlds

2023 , Gleich, Tristan , Schöbel, Sofia , Janson, Andreas

After facing the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations request their employees to work from home permanently. For an organization, this provides positive benefits such as reducing costs for rent. From an employee perspective, working from home can cause a feeling of isolation towards co-workers and lower attachment to an organization. One way to counteract this problem is to transfer the office to the digital world, especially spurred by the metaverse discussion to represent processes of our real world in digital environments that allow us to do everything in the same way digitally as we are doing in the real world. In this paper, we present a theoretical model for conducting a 2x2 between-subject experiment to analyze how digital real-world meeting experiences influence team attachment and organizational commitment. We contribute to theories such as the need of belonging and transfer them to digital environments and provide practical implications for designing digital offices.

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Gamifying Online Training in Management Education to Support Emotional Engagement and Problem-solving Skills

2022-09-28 , Schöbel, Sofia , Janson, Andreas , Leimeister, Jan Marco

Online training to improve problem-solving skills has become increasingly important in management learning. In online environments, learners take a more active role which can lead to stressful situations and decreased motivation. Gamification can be applied to support learner motivation and emotionally boost engagement by using game-like elements in a non-game context. However, using gamification does not necessarily result in supporting positive learning outcomes. Our analysis sheds light on these aspects and evaluates the effects of points and badges on engagement and problem-solving outcomes. We used an experimental approach with a fully randomized pre-test/post-test design of a gamified online management training program with 68 participants. The results demonstrate that points and badges do not directly improve problem-solving skills but are mediated by emotional engagement to positively influence problem-solving skills. Additionally, satisfaction with the gamification learning process positively relates to emotional engagement. Thus, when creating online training programs, it is essential to consider how to engage students and to think about the design of the learning environment. By identifying the limitations of gamification elements, the study’s results can provide educators with information about the design implications of online training programs for management learning.

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A Research Agenda for the Why, What, and How of Gamification Designs Results on an ECIS 2019 Panel

2020 , Schöbel, Sofia , Janson, Andreas , Jahn, Katharina , Kordyaka, Bastian , Turetken, Ozgur , Djafarova, Naza , Saqr, Mohammad , Wu, Dezhi , Söllner, Matthias , Adam, Martin , Heiberg Gad, Povl , Wesseloh, Henrik , Leimeister, Jan Marco

This report summarizes the discussion in a panel session on gamification designs at the 2019 European Conference on Information Systems in Stockholm, Sweden. The panel explores a research agenda for gamification design. The “what, why, and how” are considered to analyze the current state of the art of gamification research. An adapted defini-tion of gamification is presented as one outcome of the workshop to better describe what gamification is and what it can be used for. “Why” and “how” to employ gamification are discussed for different contexts. This can be used to gamify information systems, identity outcomes that are addressed by gamification concepts, and explore new ways of how to gamify. Overall, the panel presents new areas for future research and practice by identifying innovative ways to bring existing gamification concepts to a more impactful level.

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Designing for Digital Wellbeing on a Smartphone: Co-creation of Digital Nudges to Mitigate Instagram Overuse

2023-01-03 , Purohit, Aditya Kumar , Barev, Torben Jan , Schöbel, Sofia , Janson, Andreas , Holzer, Adrian

The endless stream of social media newsfeeds and stories captivates users for hours on end, sometimes exceeding what users themselves consider unhealthy. However, reducing one's social media consumption has proven to be challenging. To address this issue, this study investigates how the co-creation of the digital feedback nudge can improve digital well-being without increasing privacy threats. To achieve this goal, a mixed method study is used through a two-week pre-post study design. Results demonstrate that co-creation significantly increased users' sense of agency, sense of accomplishment and perceived sense of privacy while reducing users' privacy concern. Furthermore, the feedback nudge allowed participants to significantly decrease their social media use.