Exploring the ineffectiveness of gamification health management: a U-shaped relationship between competition and technological exhaustion
研究发现游戏化竞争与技术倦怠呈U型关系，适度竞争降低倦怠，过度竞争则增加倦怠，且用户类型和健康状况起调节作用。
Purpose Gamification design is considered an effective way of changing users' health behavior and improving their health management performance. Even though numerous studies have investigated the positive effect of gamification competition on users, little research has considered gamification's ineffectiveness and negative effects. In particular, how gamification competition affects users' technological exhaustion remains unclear. Design/methodology/approach According to flow theory and related research on gamification, this study discusses the nonlinear relationship between gamification competition and users' technological exhaustion. Furthermore, the authors analyze the moderating effect of user type (socializers and achievers) and users' health condition on this nonlinear relationship. Based on flow theory, the authors propose a series of research hypotheses. To test all research hypotheses, the authors collected information from 407 users via a questionnaire as the data for this study. Findings The empirical results found a U-shaped relationship between gamification competition and technological exhaustion. Technological exhaustion gradually decreases as competition increases until reaching the lowest point; after that, technological exhaustion gradually increases as competition increases. Further, being a socializer and health condition play a moderating role in the U-shaped relationship between competition and technological exhaustion. Originality/value This study's findings not only enrich the related research in flow theory and gamification, but also contribute to the effective design of gamification in health management platforms.