GAMIFICATION FRAMEWORK OF ONLINE TRAINING FOR EMPLOYEE’S ENGAGEMENT

Abstract

Online training refers to training-delivery methods that do not require both trainers and trainees to be co-located, but rather are connected via technological capabilities. Following the recent outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, many organisations have opted to use online-based methods to execute their daily operation, including the utilisation of online training for the purpose of human resource development. However, a lack of employee engagement has been cited as a prominent issue in online training. This study began by conducting an interview with several experts and the results indicated that most employees displayed low engagement during online training. Such disengagement was attributed to various factors, including lack of participation, satisfaction, and attitude towards the training process. This subsequently had a damaging effect on the employees’ ability to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to meet organisational goals. Furthermore, it was suggested that learning materials should not simply be text-based but must contain enjoyable components such as game elements, visual, auditory, and peer interaction components to increase employees’ level of engagement in the online training environment. Moreover, a clear gamification framework for online training is still lacking. The absence of a gamification framework indicates the lack of a constructed framework and established guidelines to design and apply gamification in online training. Therefore, the present study proposed the integration of gamification to resolve the issues associated with employees’ lack of engagement experience when attending online training. The main objective was to build a framework that can increase employee engagement by incorporating game elements into online training systems. This was achieved by identifying the game elements to be incorporated into online training systems to enhance employee engagement, designing and developing a gamification framework based on the identified game elements, and validating its efficacy of enhancing employee engagement in online training. A design science research method was employed to achieve these objectives. The method comprised four phases, namely explicating the problem and defining the requirement, design and development, demonstration, and validation. The first phase identified existing issues associated with online training and recommended appropriate ways to resolve the problems. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with several experts to verify the identified issues. Subsequently, this phase also identified the game elements and engagement factors required to construct the framework. Meanwhile, the design and development phase constructed the conceptual framework based on the game elements, the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), and engagement dimensions. The framework construction process was verified through semi-structured interviews and survey with experts. In Phase 3, a prototype was created and developed based on the constructed framework, which was achieved through the development step by implementing the framework in a low-fidelity prototype. The usability of the low-fidelity prototype was tested using a cognitive walkthrough inspection method and any feedback obtained was used to create a high-fidelity prototype. In Phase 4, the gamified online training prototype that evaluated the effectiveness of the gamification framework was compared to a non-gamified online training prototype. The result indicated that the gamified online training system improved employees’ emotional, behavioural, and cognitive engagement as the value of t test is less than 0.05 which is statistically significant. This research hence concluded that the integration of gamification in online training systems is indeed effective to enhance employees’ engagement level.