Johannes Bauer
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Dr.
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Bauer
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Johannes
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johannes.bauer@unisg.ch
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+41 71 224 7192
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Gamifying the digital shopping experience: games without monetary participation incentives increase customer satisfaction and loyalty

2020-08 , Bauer, Johannes Christian , Linzmajer, Marc , Nagengast, Liane , Rudolph, Thomas , D'Cruz, Elena

Purpose Many marketplace examples suggest that using gamification in the online retail shopping context boosts sales and positively affects customer loyalty. Nevertheless, more research is needed to understand the effects of digital games on consumer behavior and their underlying psychological mechanisms. Therefore, this article explores how combining games and monetary rewards impacts customer satisfaction, loyalty and word-of-mouth (WOM) intentions. Design/methodology/approach To test our hypotheses, we designed two online laboratory experiments to stimulate an online shopping situation, as gamification in online retailing has the potential to affect an important set of outcomes for service firms throughout the consumer decision process (Hofacker et al., 2016). Findings The results of two lab experiments demonstrate that playing a shopping-related game without monetary participation incentive positively influences all three relational outcomes because games enhance consumers' enjoyment of the overall shopping experience. However, our findings also show that monetary rewards used to incentivize game participation diminish these effects. Gamification loses its positive effects if games are combined with monetary rewards, as consumers no longer play games to derive inherent enjoyment, but rather the extrinsic motivation of receiving a discount. We draw managerial implications about how gamification effectively and profitably fosters strong customer relationships and thus increases customer lifetime value and equity. Research limitations/implications This research is the first to investigate the combined effects of gamification and price discounts that require consumers to play the game in order to receive the discount. Focusing on an online shopping context, this article contributes to research on motivation by providing new and more nuanced insights into the psychological process underlying the gamification effects on consumer' long-term attitudes (i.e. satisfaction) and relational behaviors (i.e. positive WOM and loyalty) toward a retailer. Practical implications Based on our findings, we provide recommendations for marketers that explain how gamification can be a profitable and efficient tool to foster strong customer relationships. Retail managers should use gamification as a less costly alternative to typical price discounts. Originality/value Two laboratory experiments investigate how the separate and combined use of games and price discounts affects consumers' satisfaction, positive WOM intentions and loyalty. Playing a shopping-related game increases satisfaction with the retailer and positive WOM intentions as well as loyalty. Monetary rewards used to incentivize game participation eliminate the positive effects of gamification.

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Die Rolle der Kunden im Category Management : Ein Einblick in die mentalen Denkstrukturen von Category Managern

2010-08-01 , Rudolph, Thomas , Bauer, Johannes C. , Nagengast, Liane , Einhorn, Martin

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Money Given Away is More Valuable

2016-02-25 , Nagengast, Liane , Bauer, Johannes C. , Norton, Michael

Across various disciplines, research has analyzed the effectiveness of self-focused vs. other-focused (prosocial) bonuses in influencing individual behavior. The effectiveness of prosocial bonuses has been linked to the “warm glow” of giving, which suggests that people experience positive feelings from the act of “doing good”. We propose an additional motivation for why prosocial bonuses might influence behaviors, suggesting that peoples’ value perceptions differ depending on whether an equivalent bonus is spent on others or on oneself. Two laboratory experiments show that individuals overvalue other-focused compared to self-focused bonuses. These results have implications for the design of incentive schemes.

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