Gamification and customer brand engagement: a review and future research agendas

Abstract

PurposeExtant literature shows that gamification is an effective tool for enhancing customer brand engagement. However, there is a need for a structured review of the literature on how and to what extent gamification fosters customer brand engagement. This hybrid literature review synthesizes extant research on gamification and its impact on customer brand engagement.Design/methodology/approachThe study is based on 45 articles drawn from 33 journals from the Scopus database. This article conducts a systematic review of theory, context, characteristics and methods employed in extant research, identifies contemporary themes and presents future research avenues. It also conducts a bibliometric analysis to identify the most prominent journals, authors, articles and themes.FindingsThis review identifies various patterns and trends of psychological capital research, and it unfolds four major themes – gamification and customer engagement, gamification and e-marketing, gamification and sustainable marketing and gamification and customer experience.Practical implicationsThis review offers key insights into managerial implications.Originality/valueIt is one of the first endeavors to conduct a structured review of research related to gamification and customer engagement. It presents a conceptual framework that shows the relationships between gamification and customer engagement. This systematic review offers several future research agendas to spur scholarly research and presents key insights into the process of gamification in marketing to enhance customer brand engagement.