Green gamification : Designing for increased sustainable behavior and business growth

Abstract: This research aims to investigate if gamification is a suitable method for creating stronger incentives for people to recycle. The research was conducted in partnership with PantaPå, the world’s first deposit app for recycling packaging. The processes of this research were first a comprehensive and meticulous review of theory and previous research resulting in a preliminary framework consisting of critical success factors when gamifying for improved recycling behavior. This framework was presented in combination with nine different possible gamification-features, that also was evaluated using this framework. Subsequently, a focus group of five experts evaluated and complemented the framework based on the outcome from the discussions. The final framework consisting of six critical success factors, was then used, in cooperation with the focus group, to evaluate if gamification would be successful for PantaPås to reach its objective to improve re- cycling behavior. The result showed that it would be changeling to use gamification to create stronger incentives for consumers to recycle. However, gamification can be used in PantaPå’s app to increase the time to spend using the app, and consequently in- creased customer acquisition and retention. The conclusion is that gamification can be used in the context of recycling, suggested that the critical success factors from the framework are fulfilled to reach the target goal with the implementation.