Abstract
Interdisciplinary approaches are sought in academia as a means to help resolve aspects of unsustainability. In management education, one of many challenges that relate to interdisciplinary working is the development and reinforcement of disciplinary working in teaching sessions. Indeed, perspectives on sustainable development from different disciplines can be brought into teaching activities and presented to students. However, taking different perspectives into education require students to be actively engaged. Drawing on the novel approach known as gamification, this paper explores how it can be used to elevate students’ engagement in management education for sustainable development. Gamification is a broad concept, which has been used in multiple settings such as marketing to promote actor engagement. Using case study research, a case was developed to illustrate the use of gamification in an education management context. Findings show how gamification can be used in teaching to increase motivation and engagement among students. The paper concludes that gamification may offer a pedagogic approach to elevate students’ engagement in management education for sustainable development and to promote multi-disciplinary working.
Highlights
Sustainable development is a subject of growing interest in society
Gamification in management education for sustainable developed is discussed, including its potential to promote interdisciplinary working in such contexts
The empirical case was analysed to illustrate how gamification in management education for sustainable development, including how gamification may promote interdisciplinary working in such context
Summary
Sustainable development is a subject of growing interest in society. Multiple actors working for, for example, research and policy institutions, NGOs and businesses. The complexity suggests that interdisciplinary approaches are needed to progressively shape and modulate sustainable development trajectories. Interdisciplinary working is promoted in academic (and industry) contexts to develop initiatives that may help to resolve sustainability challenges. This paper draws on a novel approach known as gamification, defined by Deterding et al (2011) as the use of game elements in non-game contexts, to explore how it can be used as means to engage students in management education for sustainability. The notion of interdisciplinary working for sustainable development is introduced followed by the gamification concept and associated game elements. Gamification in management education for sustainable developed is discussed, including its potential to promote interdisciplinary working in such contexts.
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