Can Occupational Stress be Reduced by Gamification? A Study of Newcomers

Starting a new position often brings significant stress. Amidst the adjustment to a new job, the increasing prevalence of gamification has revealed mixed effects on work-related factors, notably presenting an unclear impact on employee stress levels. Therefore, this article aims to explore the conn...

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Main Author: Žigimantas Pečiūra
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Vilnius University Press 2023-10-01
Series:Psichologija
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Online Access:https://www.zurnalai.vu.lt/psichologija/article/view/33240
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author Žigimantas Pečiūra
author_facet Žigimantas Pečiūra
author_sort Žigimantas Pečiūra
collection DOAJ
description Starting a new position often brings significant stress. Amidst the adjustment to a new job, the increasing prevalence of gamification has revealed mixed effects on work-related factors, notably presenting an unclear impact on employee stress levels. Therefore, this article aims to explore the connection between gamification and occupational stress among new employees. The study involved 575 employees from various fields living in the United Kingdom or the United States who have been working in their new jobs for no longer than one year. The study utilized the Perceived Occupational Stress (POS) scale by Marcatto and colleagues (2021) and a questionnaire based on the GAMEFULQUEST model (Högberg, Hamari, and Wästlund, 2019) to evaluate the overall gameful experience in the work environment. Participants were also given descriptions of eight gamification elements and were asked to assess how frequently they encountered and engaged with these elements in their new roles. The obtained results showed that new employees’ limited interaction with gamification, marked by a low number of gamification elements, rare encounters, and low engagement, contributes to a prediction of higher stress experience. This trend was also observed with perceived challenges and competition in the workplace environment. Finally, gameful experiences related to guidance, social connectedness, accomplishments, and playfulness predicted lower stress scores.
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series Psichologija
spelling doaj-art-7b5d659c00c14a8298d80122a85e52b52025-02-11T18:17:19ZengVilnius University PressPsichologija1392-03592345-00612023-10-016910.15388/Psichol.2023.69.1Can Occupational Stress be Reduced by Gamification? A Study of NewcomersŽigimantas Pečiūra0Vilnius University, Lithuania Starting a new position often brings significant stress. Amidst the adjustment to a new job, the increasing prevalence of gamification has revealed mixed effects on work-related factors, notably presenting an unclear impact on employee stress levels. Therefore, this article aims to explore the connection between gamification and occupational stress among new employees. The study involved 575 employees from various fields living in the United Kingdom or the United States who have been working in their new jobs for no longer than one year. The study utilized the Perceived Occupational Stress (POS) scale by Marcatto and colleagues (2021) and a questionnaire based on the GAMEFULQUEST model (Högberg, Hamari, and Wästlund, 2019) to evaluate the overall gameful experience in the work environment. Participants were also given descriptions of eight gamification elements and were asked to assess how frequently they encountered and engaged with these elements in their new roles. The obtained results showed that new employees’ limited interaction with gamification, marked by a low number of gamification elements, rare encounters, and low engagement, contributes to a prediction of higher stress experience. This trend was also observed with perceived challenges and competition in the workplace environment. Finally, gameful experiences related to guidance, social connectedness, accomplishments, and playfulness predicted lower stress scores. https://www.zurnalai.vu.lt/psichologija/article/view/33240occupational stressgamificationnewcomers
spellingShingle Žigimantas Pečiūra
Can Occupational Stress be Reduced by Gamification? A Study of Newcomers
Psichologija
occupational stress
gamification
newcomers
title Can Occupational Stress be Reduced by Gamification? A Study of Newcomers
title_full Can Occupational Stress be Reduced by Gamification? A Study of Newcomers
title_fullStr Can Occupational Stress be Reduced by Gamification? A Study of Newcomers
title_full_unstemmed Can Occupational Stress be Reduced by Gamification? A Study of Newcomers
title_short Can Occupational Stress be Reduced by Gamification? A Study of Newcomers
title_sort can occupational stress be reduced by gamification a study of newcomers
topic occupational stress
gamification
newcomers
url https://www.zurnalai.vu.lt/psichologija/article/view/33240
work_keys_str_mv AT zigimantaspeciura canoccupationalstressbereducedbygamificationastudyofnewcomers