Eliciting preferences for ‘gamified’ travel surveys: a best-worst approach

Abstract

Abstract Building on the natural appeal of smartphones for collecting personal travel data, this paper explores the potential of gamification concepts to potentially make surveys more engaging and appealing. An online questionnaire of 359 smartphone owners in Australia is used to explore preferences for completing a gamified travel survey together with those game elements which are most and least likely to be of importance. Just over half the participants indicated a willingness to participate in a gamified smartphone travel survey incorporating their preferred features, re-enforcing evidence from elsewhere that many are reluctant to use their own smartphones for such a purpose. Using a best-worst scaling approach, findings of the study reveal that preferences of individuals are driven extrinsically, that is, they are motivated by other agencies outside of themselves (i.e. through the award of monetary rewards and points as well as challenges). Conversely, social game elements that require disclosure of identifiable information such as profile photos and social media sharing are least preferred. This suggests that in this day-and-age of social media, preserving privacy and anonymity remain critical considerations in survey participation. Additionally, this study found variations by demographic sub-groups in both the willingness to participate in a gamified survey per se and preferences for different gamification features. Specifically, younger, game-playing participants appear more willing to embrace gamification concepts, while for older participants there appears to be a stronger leaning towards the need for tangible rewards. The implications are that while there may be some potential to capture particular groups that may be under-represented using traditional survey approaches, there is unlikely to be a ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to designing effective gamification apps.