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Playing seriously How gamification and social

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 Computers in Human Behavior 63 (2016) 392e407

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Computers in Human Behavior

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/comphumbeh

Full length article

Playing seriously e How gamication and social cues inuence bank

customers to use gamied e-business applications
Lus Filipe Rodrigues*, Ablio Oliveira, Carlos J. Costa
rio de Lisboa, (ISCTE-IUL), ISTAR-IUL, Lisboa, Portugal
Instituto Universita

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The development of business applications with game features has given rise to a new trend called
Received 29 December 2015 gamication and challenged e-banking to introduce new game elements, such as mechanics and social
Received in revised form cues, to its traditional applications. Yet, there has been a lack of empirical evidence regarding the
21 May 2016
intention to use, these type of applications and their possible impacts on business. Here, we explore
Accepted 23 May 2016
the role of gamication, socialness, and other four well-known variables (ease-of-use, usefulness,
enjoyment, and intention to use) in a gamied business application and corresponding business. We
proposed and evaluated a model based on the Technology Acceptance Model to better analyze and
Keywords:
E-banking
understand the adoption of gamied business applications. To test this model, we developed a study
Gamication using a sample of 183 bank customers, and we found that gamication signicantly improved the
Ease-of-use customers sense of social interaction, which, in turn, strongly inuenced the customers intention to
Usefulness use the applications. We argue that this intention to use could provide a strong benet to the business,
Socialness in term of increased customer engagement. This paper presents a new conceptual model to predict
Enjoyment behavioral intention in regards to gamication in e-banking, illustrating seven variables that affect the
Intention to use adoption of e-banking by bank customers. Our ndings contribute overall to a better understanding of
E-business
gamication in e-banking (with the extension of Technology Acceptance Model theories, and the new
variable gamication), providing important practical implications for software development and
marketing practices.
2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction inuence of gamication, because while e-banking has become one

The development of online games and social software, when
applied to e-business, has created a new trend, one that appeals to
user experience and creates active participation through gami-
cation. Gamication is a US$100 million market that should grow to
US$2.8 billion by 2016 (M2 Research, 2011). The term gamica-
tion is recent and denes the role of game design elements in non-
game contexts (Deterding, Dixon, Khaled, & Nacke, 2011). Adopting
gamication can be a marketing and business strategy used to in-
crease customer engagement and loyalty, as seen in its rapid spread
in elds such as business software development (Dubois &
Tamburrelli, 2013).
E-banking provides a good model for examining the potential
* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: lfrodrigues0502@hotmail.com (L.F. Rodrigues),
oliveira@iscte.pt (A. Oliveira), Carlos.costa@iscte.pt (C.J. Costa).
of the main banking channels for product and service distribution
(Amato-McCoy, 2005), since 2009, e-banking usage has experi-
enced a minor increase or even stabilized. American e-banking
customers represent 61% of bank usage in 2010, but this percentage
has not grown since 2013 (Pew Research Center, 2014). Despite the
growth in services and products made available in e-banking, there
are still elements that have a negative inuence on customers
loyalty, particularly at the social level (culture, tradition and
teaching), economic (information, protability, and security) and
personal (ease-of-use, learning, pleasure, and usefulness) (Yang,
Cheng, & Luo, 2009). Given this, e-banking provides us with an
opportunity to examine whether or not the addition of gamication
to e-banking applications can lead to greater customer usage and
involvement. Because online games have high social acceptance,
are comfortable to use, easy to play, nancially protable, transmit
sensations of pleasure, and induce behaviors and attitudes that
contribute to users high loyalty (Yoon, 2009), they provide a good
abilio. model on which to develop e-banking that meets less resistance

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.05.063
0747-5632/ 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 L.F. Rodrigues et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 63 (2016) 392e407
from the consumer. In general, games have a very low cultural
resistance, and a high level of customer acceptance (Smith, 2007).
Key features that engage users of games are social inuences
and game ow experience (Hsu & Lu, 2004). The importance of
social context, and the games elements or characteristics, have
been explained with reference to existing literature about social
inuence in social psychology, and current experience in ow
theory (Alenezi, Karim, & Veloo, 2010). Online businesses are trying
to capitalize on current understandings of the game-user behavior
by creating a social presence through the adoption of social cues
technologies. Software development that generates social presence
in e-business applications aims to provide an understanding of how
the adoption of different social features can affect online sales. Such
features also help to assess the current deployment of diverse social
presence enhancing technologies among customers/clients, in or-
der to reveal opportunities for other e-commerce business and to
speculate about future developments in this area. Therefore, it is
important to study the inuence of the social features (socialness
perception) that can be applied to e-banking so as to enhance the
perception of online social presence for customers (through, for
example, upload images, avatars, online product review, recom-
mendation agents, instant help-avatar, social networks, blogs to
share investment strategies, and other user-customization fea-
tures). Research on the current adoption of such social cues and
gamication features by online bank customers is very important,
so that we can examine more specically how e-banking with
games and social cue features might affect the adoption of e-
banking by customers.
Game design elements and social cues, if applied to e-business
software, may provide several advantages. First, because games
have rewarded mechanisms, such rewards may motivate customers
to more frequently use the website and possibly increase their
nancial activity (e.g. inquire nancial information and perform
more transactions). Second, games may improve the customers
experience, learning process and enjoyment, facilitating the
adoption of electronic channels. From a business perspective,
gamication and socialness may also be applied as input to provide
economic savings to the business by reducing the face-to-face
relationship (while still maintaining a sense of social connection
for the customer) and sustaining the development of electronic
transactions that are directly performed by the customers.
Therefore, analyzing the use of gamied business applications in
order to understand the inuence of gamication and socialness
perceptions is important to e-commerce/e-business success
(Wakeeld, Wakeeld, Baker, & Wang, 2011). Current studies on
the characteristics of games, and their inuence on customers
behavior, are still insufcient (King, Delfabbro, & Grifths, 2010). As
well, the literature on online consumers behavior is often very
disconnected. It includes studies about the intention to use online
systems; however, the intention to buy online, and the continuity
behavior, has not yet been adequately studied (Chan, Cheung,
Kwong, Limayem, & Zhu, 2003). Social factors may predict the
use of gamication (Hamari, Koivisto, & Pakkanen, 2014; Hamari,
Koivisto, & Sarsa, 2014), and some empirical research largely sup-
ports the popular view that gamication induces positive effects,
but many caveats still exist (Hamari, 2013).
The introduction of game mechanisms in business is the art and
science of enriching the customer interactions, while still devel-
oping games that serve business purposes (Zichermann &
Cunningham, 2011). In this sense, companies have to learn how
to introduce game mechanisms in their business software to pro-
vide a fun, rewarding, and enjoyable experience for their cus-
tomers. However, the design of social gaming does not begin when
the game starts; rather, it requires constant monitoring of
393
customers feedback, and business metrics. Almost 80% of appli-
cations fail the business objectives, mainly due to poor design
(Gartner, 2012). In the application development context, the design
is the process of creating rules and contents, through game me-
chanics, to allow gameplay (Hamari & Lehdonvirta, 2010). In this
way, the design is critical to success in e-commerce/e-business,
because the characteristics of gamication play a signicant role in
customer behavior. Thus, more studies are required in order to
make incremental improvements in gamication applications for
business, ones that add new features and gameplay mechanics
(Hamari & Lehdonvirta, 2010) to ensure both customer engage-
ment and the success of the business objectives. The game features
and socialness cues in business software have grown so much that
researchers of games and web designers have begun to study and
monitor the evolution of gamication (Juul, 2011).
We already know that business software, gamied with social
cues, can inuence a customers intention to use serious applica-
tions, but no research has yet studied the impact of both gami-
cation and social cues on bank customers. The commercial success
of online gaming and computer applications, and their inuence on
the behaviors of users in terms of condence, enjoyment, ease-of-
use and loyalty (Wu & Liu, 2007), demonstrate that the develop-
ment of business applications with games features may positively
inuence customers to increase their use of e-banking, resulting in
a higher degree of customer loyalty to the bank. This study,
therefore explores the perceptions and attitudes of bank customers
who used a real business application, Futebank, which employed
both gamication (with game design, points, rankings, and re-
wards), and social cues (language, voice, interactivity, and avatars).
Because this application offers customers an innovative and new
social experience due to its integration of games and social features,
it may facilitate customers to buy more nancial products online
and may inuence customers intentions to increase their usage of
e-banking, which, in turn, will positively have an impact on the
bank business.
2. Main objective
In recent years, the technical evolution in software develop-
ment, and the increasing number of internet customers, has led to
the growth of e-banking (Eriksson, Kerem, & Nilsson, 2008). E-
banking changed the traditional way of doing business, external-
izing several services, and leading customers to perform their own
banking activities (Eriksson et al., 2008; Nasir, 2013). In this sense,
and thinking on the attractiveness of the services offered, some
corporations developed or changed their business computer ap-
plications to include features appreciated by customers of online
games (Sayar & Wolfe, 2007). Until now, there is no indication that
the acceptance of business applications can be directly inuenced
by software with social cues, and game mechanics (Deterding et al.,
2011; Gee, 2008; Wakeeld et al., 2011), but we can see a correla-
tion between these factors. Understanding the factors that affect
customers intentions to use e-banking is very signicant to pro-
fessionals who plan to promote new forms of banking in the cur-
rent competitive market, especially those aiming for e-business
growth (Nasri, 2011). The objective of this work is to identify the
main factors that inuence bank customers use of e-banking ap-
plications, particularly ones developed with online games and so-
cial features.
We therefore analyzed the impact of gamied business appli-
cations on the users/customers of an electronic bank in Portugal.
First, we will discuss the relevant literature of technology accep-
tance models. Subsequently, we will propose and explore our
conceptual model, which includes seven variables (gamication,
394 L.F. Rodrigues et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 63 (2016) 392e407
socialness, ease of use, usefulness, enjoyment, intention to use, and
business impact), hoping to contribute to a better understanding
about the variables involving the adoption of e-banking by bank
customers.
3. Theoretical background
Business software developments have introduced new vari-
ables, which play a signicant role in changing the customers
perceptions of bank companies. Consequently, online nancial
products and services transactions have experienced rapid changes
in response both to technological development and to customers
satisfaction. Some conceptual models, based on the Technology
Acceptance Model (TAM; Davis, 1989), with variables tested in
several studies (e.g. Davis, 1989; Wakeeld et al., 2011), may help us
to predict behavioral intention towards gamied e-banking. The
technology acceptance model (TAM) is an information systems
theory to model, test and explain how users may accept and use a
new technology (Davis, 1989).
A users intention to use a technology is inuenced, primarily, by
its usefulness and ease-of-use (Smith, 2004). Secondly, is deter-
mined by the ease-of-use and the (lack of) pleasure in using it
(Childers, Carr, Peck, & Carson, 2002). The perceived ease-of-use is
the degree to which a person believes that using a particular in-
formation system is free from effort (Davis, 1989). The perceived
usefulness refers to the belief that using a particular information
system may enhance task performance. Perceived usefulness is
closely linked to the perceived enjoyment, which is dened as the
degree to which a person thinks that performing a computer ac-
tivity is enjoyable (Deterding et al., 2011). Perceived enjoyment is a
dominant variable underlying the frequent use of online games
(Choi & Kim, 2004). Perceived socialness is the users perception of
computers as social actors (after detecting the social presence),
resulting from the use of social cues (e.g. avatars, emotional content
or communication tools) on a website (Prendinger, Descamps, &
Ishizuka, 2004). The original TAM (TAM 1, Davis, 1989) was
further extended (TAM 2, Venkatesh & Davis, 2000) with additional
variables to predict the adoption of emergent technologies by
consumers. These variables include, for example, playful
computing (Moon & Kim, 2001), cognitive absorption (Agarwal &
Karahanna, 2000), and perceived enjoyment (Koufaris, 2002). A
positive relationship between the perception of socialness and the
perception of usefulness leads users to accept technology
(Karahanna & Straub, 1999). In an e-commerce context, it is the
websites interactive component that allows users to review social
perceptions, while shopping online (Kumar & Benbasat, 2006).
Thus, socialness in computer applications induces a social response
from the users (Nass, Moon, & Carney, 1999).
In a business application on a bank website, we have different
settings and features available on the website (e.g. search engines,
forums, blogs, and/or product recommendation systems) that may
be used to guide the customer to better nancing and product in-
formation. Web design and online games may inuence bank
customers to perceive these business applications as fullling the
needs for both socialness and usefulness. For example, some online
games allow players to experiment with new identities, allowing
them to assume roles, and asking them to make decisions from
different points of view (Gee, 2008). Similarly, a website that con-
veys socialness, usefulness, and enjoyment to the user is likely to
be considered more useful, informative, friendly, enjoyable, and
have greater ease-of-use when compared to a website without
game mechanics and social features.
Therefore, we considered that developing business applications
with game features might inuence bank customers perceptions,
reducing the cognitive effort required to use e-banking applications
(Gefen, Karahanna, & Straub, 2003). These gamied applications
may also increase the intention of customers to use them through
ease-of-use, therefore reducing the transactions performed in the
branch (face-to-face channel) which are more costly (40 times
higher) than the online channel (CEB TowerGroup, 2012).
4. Conceptual model proposed and hypotheses
Some researchers (Agarwal & Venkatesh, 2002; Yoon, 2002)
have attempted to measure how website characteristics and design
contribute to an increase in the intention to use the website and to
purchase online (presenting models with variables such as trust,
friendship, usability, ease-of-use, satisfaction, innovation, and
product adequacy) in several companies (e.g. airlines, bookstores,
car rental, insurances, travel agency). These authors were success-
ful in measuring customer software adoption; however, it is note-
worthy that certain design and social elements, such as game
characteristics and mechanisms, social cues, and overall game
design, were not examined. In a business context, the appeal of the
website and its design, as well as its interactivity and responsive-
ness, are recognized as very important to web success (Palmer,
2002). In fact, users care about website design, usability, content
richness, and navigation. These characteristics can be found in
gamication (e.g. ease-of-use, rich design, usability, interactivity,
friendly contents, and so on) (Deterding et al., 2011). However, no
previous research seemed to consider the relationship between
gamication, socialness, and intention to use on business impacts
in e-banking applications.
In the present study, and supported by Davis (1989), who pre-
sented a model (TAM) that explains the users intentions towards
adopting information systems; we propose a new model to explain
the effect of gamication on online business. In this model, we
examine the causal relationship between seven variables: social-
ness (Wakeeld et al., 2011), ease-of-use (Davis, 1989), usefulness
(Davis, 1989), enjoyment (Davis, Bagozzi, & Warshaw, 1992),
intention to use (Davis, 1989), and gamication and business
impact. These variables may signicantly affect customers atti-
tudes and behaviors, providing a more effective means to predict
banks customers intention to use gamied business applications.
The main contribution of this research is to determine the ef-
fects of the bank customers intention to use gamied applications
and how this intention to use might inuence bank business to
better design enhanced business applications for the banking
sector. Fig. 1 shows the theoretical model developed to provide the
research contribution.
4.1. Gamication (GAM)
Gamication is the use of game design elements in non-game
contexts (Deterding et al., 2011). This term was rst used in 2008,
and since 2010, gamication (Deterding et al., 2011; Hamari &
Lehdonvirta, 2010) and persuasive technologies (Fogg, 2002) have
been harnessed for business purposes and to inuence customers
behavior. Numerous software applications (across various sectors
such as production, nance, education, etc.) offer gamication as a
service layer. All gamied applications have particular features,
such as rewards, points, badges, levels, and leaderboards
(Deterding et al., 2011). In general, gamication describes a set of
design principles, processes, and systems, which are used to in-
uence, engage, and motivate individuals, groups, and commu-
nities. It refers to software design aimed to provide a game-like
experience to users, commonly with the end-goal of affecting user
behavior (Huotari & Hamari, 2012).
 L.F. Rodrigues et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 63 (2016) 392e407
In our work, we aimed to help and positively inuence bank
customers to manage their own mutual fund portfolios in a better
way, using a gamied business application. We also hoped that they
would nd this activity enjoyable. However, developing socialness
and computer game functionalities into a banking website was a
complex task. To decide which were the elements and features that
would be most appreciated by customers, and therefore included
on the website was not always easy (Straub & Watson, 2001).
A gamication design system is based on both the intrinsic and
extrinsic rewards, leading to predened behaviors in the short or
long term (UX Magazine, 2003). Gamication is the use of game
design thinking and game mechanics to engage users, increase
loyalty, and solve behavioral economics problems (Zichermann &
Cunningham, 2011). A good gamication design seeks to examine
and align the objectives of a business organization with the moti-
vation of intrinsic customers, and so, using extrinsic rewards and
intrinsically satisfying design, move the customers through their
nancial portfolio management. To do so, the application must
incorporate design elements that invoke desire, and provide
incentive, challenge, reward, and feedback, to create engagement
with the new business software. While we constantly worked to
activate the intrinsic motivation of customers, we also had to
acknowledge that this motivation exists on a continuum
(Zichermann & Cunningham, 2011). Users can convert extrinsic
motivators to intrinsic if they internalize the desire to do so (UX
Magazine, 2003). In other words, if an extrinsic motivator is
found to be meaningful, pleasurable, and consistent with a persons
worldview, he/she can adopt it in a short or long term as though it
was intrinsic. Such rewards are inherently linked to the game, and
the learning process provides the user with a positive effort,
essentially due to the disconnection between the challenge and the
aspects of fantasy game design (Malone & Lepper, 1987). This
detachment is the reason why learning is mentioned as a practical
activity disguised as a game. Fantasy aspects of the game are not
only a reward, but also they help to develop the knowledge of the
game (Malone & Lepper, 1987). Therefore, it is important to un-
derstand the customers perceptions when they are using gamied
applications with social cues in a bank website. In this context,
researchers may test, measure (extensively) and capture percep-
tions and behaviors of customers of e-banking systems (Straub &
Watson, 2001).
Fig. 1. The research conceptual model.
(Source: Own elaboration.)
395
Gamication in e-banking differs from other business de-
velopments in a few ways: 1) As seen in the loyalty market (Huotari
& Hamari, 2012), gamication commonly attempts to provide ex-
periences that are reminiscent of games (e.g. easy ow, easy to
learn and to use), rather than directly offering hedonic experiences
by means of audiovisual content or economic incentives, 2) Gami-
cation attempts to affect motivation rather than attitude or
behavior, as seen in persuasive technologies (Fogg, 2002; Hamari,
2013); 3) Gamication adds gamefulness to existing business ap-
plications, rather than developing an entirely new game, as is
frequently done with serious games (Deterding et al., 2011;
Huotari & Hamari, 2012). Hence, in our own application, we
developed Futebank to provide customers with attractive game
design navigation (e.g. football eld, and football players repre-
senting nancial portfolio and mutual funds) and game mechanics
(e.g. leaderboards of customers with highest mutual fund portfolio
score) that are interactive and raise social and enjoyment percep-
tions in the customers, but remain focused on the business objec-
tives of the bank at the same time.
Overall, gamication software, and persuasive software design
promote both social and online interaction (Fogg, 2002), which
means that information systems and services, like gamication, are
being developed to change users attitudes, behaviors, or both,
through market content, persuasive interaction, and software
functionalities (Fogg, 2002). A gamied business application (one
with game characteristics and elements), creates a reaction of social
perception (social cues) from the bank customer, and this may
determine how they perceive the applications ease-of-use, use-
fulness, and enjoyment, which in turn may increase their intention
to use gamied application, which subsequently, results in business
impact. Therefore, we provide two hypotheses:
H1. The game elements and characteristics (gamication) of the
business software positively affect the perceived socialness of
users/customers.
H2. The game elements and characteristics (gamication) of the
business software positively affect the perceived enjoyment of
users/customers.
396 L.F. Rodrigues et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 63 (2016) 392e407
4.2. Socialness (SOC)
Socialness has been used to describe the phenomenon of users
treating technology or technology interfaces, such as websites, as
social actors (Wang, Baker, Wagner, & Wakeeld, 2007). That is, the
user perceives that the interface exhibits lifelike attributes associ-
ated with personality or emotions. Social cues lead to perceptions
of socialness (Wang et al., 2007), which are then manipulated via
the presence (or absence) of an online interface, such as an inter-
active shopping guide. Socialness assumes that users can experi-
ence an online website as exciting, entertaining, and enjoyable.
Socialness perceptions in turn refers to the extent to which cus-
tomers identify socialness as part of a business application.
Furthermore, socialness speaks to the face-to-face market trans-
action evidenced by friendship, familiarity, personal recognition,
and support (Berry, 1995). In this way, an interactive Avatar may be
able to transmit social cues such as friendliness and familiarity
(Wang et al., 2007). This may create the perception of a personal
connection between the customer and the bank. The social
response theory posits that people treat computers as social actors
(Moon, 2000), and that a social cue can be a non-verbal commu-
nication, such as a facial expression, gesture, or posture.
In face-to-face business transactions, socialness is evidenced by
friendship, familiarity, personal recognition and supports (Berry,
1995), and emphasizes a relational bond between the buyer and
seller. In the same mode, gamied business software with rich
media may help to induce social cues, such as security, condence,
friendliness, familiarity, thus increasing the perception of a per-
sonal connection between the business software and the online
customers (Wang et al., 2007). In our study, we developed and
examined socialness perceptions through the information shared
between bank customers, and through the rankings of the help-
fulness, friendliness, and politeness of the avatar elements. The
business application (Futebank) informs the customer (who is
playing via a Team Manager avatar) how a mutual fund (repre-
sented by a football player avatar), is currently performing, based
on quotation variation. For example, the avatar representing the
football player (mutual fund) might be standing down position or
displaying a red face if the performance (quotation) goes down.
Then, the customer (team manager) will verify that there is a
problem with the players performance, and works to solve the
problem of negative performance by replacing him with another
player with a better weekly performance (i.e. with a quotation that
is moving up). Another possible situation is when the football
player stands up and displays a green face (meaning that the
mutual fund quotation is going up); in this case, the manager
should recognize that this mutual fund has a good performance
because the quotation is going up. Therefore, in both cases, the face
color or the position of the football player (standing down or up),
provides a social cue to bank customers/players, encouraging them
to analyze and change the football player, therefore increasing the
teams performance (the mutual fund portfolio).
Through these features, the design of Futebank works to elicit a
social response from customers, inuencing the perceived ease-of-
use, usefulness, enjoyment, and the intention to use the gamied
mutual fund application, and thus resulting in a positive impact on
banking business. Through using the game, bank customers may
recognize the gamied business application as a social actor. That
is, they may perceive that the interface exhibits lifelike attributes
associated with personality, emotion, or stress (such as the face
color of an Avatar-football player, reecting the performance of the
mutual fund). These characteristics are classied as intrinsic mo-
tivators, because they may stimulate the feeling of pleasure or
satisfaction (Vallerand, 1997), enhancing a positive inuence in
regards to technology use.
Therefore, we deduce that the game design interfaces with so-
cial cues makes the technology easier to use, turning the usage of
the application in an enjoyable and useful experience, to manage
mutual fund portfolios. This implies that capabilities of socialness
of the software, meant to improve the usefulness, enjoyment, and
ease of use of the business application, may promote the perception
of socialness among users. Thus, interactivity between the
customer and the mutual fund application should result in a greater
sense of socialness which, somehow, inuences the customers
perceptions about the ease-of-use of the software, the usefulness of
it, and the enjoyment provided by the experience of using the
application. In sum, the technology acceptance literature supports a
positive relationship between perceived socialness, the perceived
usefulness and ease-of-use, and perceived enjoyment (Karahanna
& Straub, 1999; Kumar & Benbasat, 2006; Nass et al., 1999). So,
we predict that the social cues of the business software, or social-
ness perceptions, would positively affect:
H3. The perceived ease-of-use.
H4. The perceived enjoyment.
H5. The perceived usefulness.
H6. The intention to use the gamied software.
4.3. Perceived ease-of-use (EOU)
Is a system user-friendly? Subramanian (1994) identied two
salient belief measurements (perceived usefulness and perceived
ease-of-use), using a new data set for two different technologies.
He found that perceived usefulness, instead of perceived ease-of-
use, has a direct effect on use. According to Davis (1989), the
perceived ease-of-use, combined with perceived usefulness, de-
termines the users attitude toward and intention to adopt a
particular information system. The better the interactivity with
technology, the greater the likelihood of users to socially reply to
information systems (Nass et al., 1999). Perceived ease-of-use has a
signicant effect on perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment
(playfulness), and intention to adopt the use of a specic infor-
mation system (Van der Heijden, 2003). That is, the easier a system
is to use, the more it is associated with enjoyment. This, in turn,
leads to the creation of positive favorable attitudes towards using it.
We dened ease-of-use in our study as the extent to which
consumers could adopt gamied business application because they
perceived it as easy or effortless. Hence, Futebank was designed to
provide customers with software features that facilitated the ap-
plications usability, and information and transaction processes
(e.g. 3D and 2D contents, interactive graphical environment, color
indication of mutual fund/player performance, and quick sell and
buy process). Together, these design features aimed to reduce
customer effort in using the software, particularly compared to
traditional mutual fund applications, which do not employ these
features. Accordingly, we predict that the perceived ease-of-use of a
gamied business application:
H7. Positively affects the perceived usefulness.
H8. Positively affects the perceived enjoyment.
H9. Positively affects the intention to use the gamied software.
4.4. Perceived usefulness (USE)
The importance of perceived usefulness has been conrmed in
 L.F. Rodrigues et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 63 (2016) 392e407
the e-business/e-commerce (Eriksson et al., 2008). Usefulness is
the subjective probability that using a technology improves the
way a user may complete a given task, and perceived usefulness
refers to users perceptions regarding the outcome experience of
their engagement with technology (Davis, 1989).
E-banking research using TAM found that perceived usefulness
is an important factor. In fact, bank customers more frequently use
the electronic channel to perform their nancial transactions, and
to obtain nancial information (Eriksson et al., 2008; Nasir, 2013)
because they perceive this channel as useful. Consequently, the
greater is the perceived usefulness in e-banking services, the more
likely e-banking will be used more often (Nui Polatoglu and Ekin,
2001). However, perceived usefulness depends also on the
complexity of the nancial product (e.g. mutual funds, bonds, or
stocks) (Gerrard, Barton Cunningham, & Devlin, 2006), so we had
to consider the degree to which a bank customer might perceive
that a gamied business application might be useful in term of
improving efciency and facilitating the managing of mutual fund
portfolios.
We argue that a customers intrinsic motivation can be inu-
enced by features developed in the business application (e.g.
improved nancial literacy knowledge through the use of help-
avatars, and graphical and interactive information such as prod-
uct risk alerts), which might affect the utilitarian factor (or use-
fulness), thus providing better information/knowledge of a
complex nancial product (e.g. mutual funds or other investment
products). Consequently, the customer will have more fun and will
perceive the gamied application as an easy process to obtain in-
formation leading to better performing investments, and reduces
the risk of taking nancial lost. Thus, reducing the nancial literacy
effort, and providing product risk alerts, the application will
encourage customers to perceive Futebank as an interesting,
enjoyable and useful application, since it may help them to manage
their nancial investments (Davis et al., 1992; Edward & Ryan,
1985; Gee, 2008; Malone & Lepper, 1987; Podsakoff, MacKenzie,
Lee, & Podsakoff, 2003; Yang et al., 2009).
We therefore designed Futebank to provide the customers with
interactive software tools (e.g. help-avatars, search engines to
select mutual funds by risk type, region, asset composition, per-
formance, and emails notications with recommendations and
price change alerts), that would be perceived as useful in terms of
the better management of their nancial investments. We suggest
that perceived usefulness of the gamied business application:
H10. Positively affects the perceived enjoyment.
H11. Positively affects the intention to use gamied software.
4.5. Perceived enjoyment (ENJ)
Enjoyment was originally set as a supplement, when the use of a
computer was considered pleasant (Davis et al., 1992). The
perception of technology use-enjoyment (i.e. how pleasurable it is
to engage with and use technology) is inuenced by game char-
acteristics (Moon & Kim, 2001), as has been analyzed through
purchase intentions on the internet (Jarvenpaa & Todd, 1996), in
which use-enjoyment has been found as a catalyst to increase the
intentions to use technology (Moon & Kim, 2001; Van der Heijden,
2003).
The primary emotion felt in playing games is enjoyment (Boyle,
Connolly, & Hainey, 2011). Some studies have analyzed how the
immersion in games provides enjoyment, or awakens other emo-
tions, to players, but the results were inconclusive (Razak &
Connolly, 2013). Organizations adopt new technologies to
397
improve the work efciency, but some technologies can also be
implemented to raise enjoyment in performing a certain task (Song
& Han, 2009). The concept of perceived enjoyment was introduced
to explain consumers use of e-commerce websites (Van der
Heijden, 2003). Perceived playfulness, or fun, is also treated as an
important hedonic factor antecedent to consumers attitudes to-
wards using a system (Moon & Kim, 2001).
The extrinsic motivation emphasizes goal achievement as the
main determinant of behavior (Edward & Ryan, 1985). The intrinsic
motivation involves expectations of fulllment, or enjoyment, to be
derived from the target behavior (Vallerand, 1997). The socialness
perceptions have a positive relationship with enjoyment (Wang
et al., 2007), and an individual can experience enjoyment, or fun,
from using a specic system. Thus, a user may perceive any active
involvement in using new technology, as enjoyable (Davis, 1989).
Similarly, a system perceived to be easy to use is conceived as more
fun to use (Bruner & Kumar, 2005).
Prior studies on e-commerce, incorporated perceived enjoy-
ment in the TAM to achieve a more accurate prediction of cus-
tomers acceptance of a specic product or service (Bruner &
Kumar, 2005; Van der Heijden, 2003; Wakeeld et al., 2011). The
enjoyment in the use of online games has been shown to be
signicantly related to users having a positive attitude about games
(Hsu & Lu, 2004). Furthermore, the enjoyment in the use of an e-
commerce website has been signicantly related to increased
customer satisfaction (Khalifa & Liu, 2007; Wakeeld et al., 2011).
The perception of socialness about a website leads to ease-of-use,
usefulness, enjoyment, and intention to use the website (for
instance, an e-commerce website) (Wakeeld et al., 2011).
We presume that perceived enjoyment resides in the extent to
which a customer thinks that using a gamied business applica-
tion is pleasant (e.g., football design game analogy with serious
business, competition, and rewards), and that this perceived
enjoyment is correlated with an intention to use it again in the
future. Therefore, the idea that bank customers perceive the
gamied business application as enjoyable or fun can create an
expectation of an internal psychological reward, which can be
sufcient to motivate sustained or extensive use. In this sense, we
suggest that:
H12. The perceived enjoyment of using gamied business appli-
cations, positively affects the intention to them.
4.6. Intention to use (INT)
In the present study, we use TAM to predict and explain both
customers intentions to use gamied business applications and the
possible impact on business using these applications to manage
nancial products via e-banking. Previous empirical studies indi-
cated that an individuals attitude is determined by various ante-
cedent factors, or external variables, such as system features,
design, information, and/or support (Davis, 1989).
Behavioral intention to use is a measure of a persons likelihood
to purchase or adopt a product or service (Davis, 1989). As an
outcome of lack of usefulness, ease-of-use, and enjoyment, many
users hesitate to engage in widespread e-banking usage (McKnight,
Choudhury, & Kacmar, 2002), such as inquiring about nancial
information, and purchasing products/services.
Business design features therefore not only have a strong impact
on customers intention to use gamied software, but also plays an
even more important role in terms of predicting their use of busi-
ness software (Wu & Liu, 2007). This is consistent with the prior
research in e-commerce enterprise, which has demonstrated that
enjoyment, perceived usefulness, and simplicity of utilization are
398 L.F. Rodrigues et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 63 (2016) 392e407
all important triggers to encourage customer intention to use new
software, which is a decisive factor in e-business success (Jarvenpaa
& Todd, 1996; Lee & Kozar, 2006).
The hesitation of customers towards using e-banking remains a
hindrance to its success (Hoffman, Novak, & Peralta, 1999). It is
critical to promote e-banking usage in order to transform a po-
tential consumer from a curious observer to someone who is
willing to transact and buy over the website. E-banking is a self-
service available to online customers, and requires less resources
and lower transaction and production costs than traditional
banking (Witman & Roust, 2008). Therefore, understanding the
nature and antecedents of the customers intentions to use gami-
ed business software may improve the relationship between
customers and business software, which, in turn, will promote a
greater acceptance of e-banking usage, with a consequent and
positive business impact.
We dene behavioral intention as the prediction of the cus-
tomers intention to use a gamied system. It is important to verify
the degree to which a customers attitude is favorable, or unfa-
vorable, towards using gamied software applications (such as
Futebank, in the present case), in order to predict whether it will
have an impact on the business of the bank. Accordingly, we state
that:
H13. The intention to use a gamied business software positively
affects the banking business (having a business impact).
4.7. Business impact (BUS)
E-banking has become one of the main channels for the distri-
bution of banking products and services (Amato-McCoy, 2005). In
response to competitive pressures from non-banking nancial
service companies, and the continuous progress of the internet,
banks have been innovative and active internet strategy boosters
(Singer, Baradwaj, Flaherty, & Rugemer, 2012), seen particularly in
the advances in information technology that stimulated the
development of e-banking (Wong, Loh, Yap, & Bak, 2009). However,
success is relative, because in spite of the increased use of the
internet, and the technological investment in online banking, the
use of these services still reduced (Farzianpour, Pishdar, Shakib, &
Toloun, 2014).
Although there is still potential in e-banking, particularly when
viewed as a direct sales channel, to increase company protability,
there is an unquestionable lack of knowledge regarding this issue
(Hoffman, Novak, & Chatterjee, 1995), primarily because very few
organizations report the online business impact on overall com-
pany business (Thompson & Kaul, 1995). Others organizations deal
with very short business information, without utility or value of e-
business impact analysis (Marcella & Illingworth, 2012). Conse-
quently, we argue that a positive user experience, combined with a
business application in e-banking context, will increase customers
intention to use e-banking, and to perform more nancial trans-
actions, which will have a positive effect on the companys busi-
ness. We argue, in fact, that the development of successful gamied
business applications is vital in business, because it is chiey
grounded on the extrinsic and intrinsic motivations for consumers
to buy online (Shang, Chen, & Shen, 2005).
In this spirit, recent research has stressed the ever-growing
potential of gamication to become an important tool to inu-
ence customers to use business software more often, improving
both customer relationships and customer satisfaction with
internet business (Mohd Suki, Ramayah, & Mohd Suki, 2008;
Yousafzai, Pallister, & Foxall, 2009).
The role of technology in organizations has been predominantly
used to reduce costs and eliminate uncertainties (Kelley, 1989). In
the nancial service sector, technology has been used to stan-
dardize services by reducing the employee/customer interface
(Sangeetha, 2012).
With gamication, banking operations become more fun,
interactive, and participatory, encouraging customers to adopt
behaviors that contribute to their nancial literacy. At the same
time, we predict that gamied software will result in customers
performing more nancial operations online. If the usability of a
website exceeds customers expectations, then they will have a
more favorable attitude towards gamied applications. Customers
will accept gamication more easily, and will use gamied appli-
cations more often, leading to a business increase, and, therefore,
more transactions will be performed, with an evident business
impact.
Furthermore, continuous buying and selling over the Internet is
essential to the ongoing success of any e-business organization,
because the business transaction in which the parties interact
electronically, rather than by physical exchanges or direct physical
contact, has less cost to the organization (CEB TowerGroup, 2012).
E-business makes communication between banks and customers
more efcient, faster, easier, and cheaper (CEB TowerGroup, 2012).
In order for an e-business to succeed, an organization must provide
user competencies through features and mechanics that increase
the ease-of-use, usefulness, and information, to inuence the user
to buy more online. With an interactive game design, and dynamic
information tools, the users have an important benet supporting
queries for buy or sell decisions (Hoffman et al., 1995). Thus, by
developing gamied business applications, the users behavior
could be inuenced to learn more about e-business and use it more
frequently, which will result in the increase of online activity,
therefore reducing organizational costs. The success of a business
computer application, with games and socialness characteristics,
can be measured through the level of customer involvement, and
its inuence on customers behavior (Juul, 2011). Furthermore,
socialness, which refers to the extent to which customers feel that
they have a social experience via online channels, has been
shown to have a positive effect on business. For example, e-com-
merce acceptance has been facilitated, in part, by the extent to
which users, such as online shoppers, perceive that a website,
through incorporating human-like elements, successfully provides
an innovative social experience. The intention to use the gamied
business application and its buy/sell transactions then inuences
the customer in performing nancial operations, and these impacts
globally in business impacts (Delone & McLean, 2003). As the
impacts of information systems have evolved beyond the online
user, researchers have suggested additional impact measures for
information systems, such as business impacts (Clemons, Reddi, &
Row, 1993). Some results from other studies, especially in the
context of e-commerce systems, prove that the ease-of-use and
usefulness are strongly associated with system use and net benets
(Li, 1997; Molla & Licker, 2001; Teo & Choo, 2001). Business Impact
success measures are very important, but they can only be under-
stood after analyzing and measuring the intention to use an
application. For example, in e-banking environment, the impact of
a website design of customer purchases cannot be fully understood
without an evaluation of the usability of the website and, and it is
also necessary that the site provides to the prospective purchaser
all the information relevant to make purchasing decisions. Busi-
ness Impact means organization cost savings, increment on the
sales, or new customers that results from the intention to use the
gamied business application (Shapiro & Varian, 2013). Thus, we
dene business impact as a measure that results from bank cus-
tomers usage of gamied business computer applications. It is very
 L.F. Rodrigues et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 63 (2016) 392e407
important that customers perceive the advantages of using gami-
ed applications, instead of traditional ones, adopting the innova-
tive functions with game features. This new way to manage a
mutual fund portfolio (with gamication, ease to use, usefulness,
and enjoyment), positively inuences customers intention to use,
and directly affects their willingness to both purchase and recom-
mend the application to friends (word-of-mouth). With this
expertise, banks will be better prepared to improve customers
nancial literacy, user experience, and increase satisfaction/loyalty,
all of which will help the bank to gain a competitive advantage and
increase business (Methlie & Nysveen, 1999).
To manage customers activities and resources in a manner that
fosters trust, acceptance, and ultimately purchase decisions, e-
banking must actively explore knowledge sources that articulate
trust-building methods in ways that are relevant to the business
and that will promote the customer satisfaction. There has not been
any specic theoretical model that analyses important social mo-
tivators, like games and socialness inuence in the most common
variables (such as ease-of-use, usefulness, enjoyment, and inten-
tion to use) in e-business, and this is a good stimulus for the present
work.
4.8. Hypotheses (summarized)
The hypothesized relationships between variables of the con-
ceptual model (see Fig. 1) are as follows:
5. Research methodology
We conducted a eld study for an e-bank operating in Portugal,
in which we developed a new business application for mutual
funds, one that included both games characteristics and social cues.
To test the relationships hypothesized in the theoretical model that
we proposed (see Fig. 1), data was collected through an online
survey developed according to our objective, with the intention to
be accessed by the users/customers via the gamied business
application.
5.1. Futebank e gamied business application
The new business application FuteBank (see Fig. 2) is an online
digital animation based on a nancial product for mutual funds and
portfolio management, which emulates a football champions lea-
gue. The game establishes the main relationship between the
football team and a portfolio mutual fund, with the positions of the
players on the eld representing the risk rank assigned to each
specic mutual fund. The mutual fund risk rank is a measure of
volatility, with a scale of 1e5, with 1 being the least volatile (in the
application these mutual funds are goalkeepers), and 5 corre-
sponding to the most volatile (strikers). The midelders are mutual
funds with a risk rank from 2 to 4.
This software was only available for customers with mutual
funds in their portfolio, with the objective of transforming a
complicated process of choosing, selecting, and purchasing, into a
simple, enjoyable and easy transaction process with an attractive
design. The mutual funds (football players) are displayed on the
football eld, according to their risk rank (goalkeepers in the rst
line of defense, midelders in the centre of the eld, and strikers in
the advanced line). Thus, each manager/customer can visualize,
through the placement of players on the eld, his risk prole, giving
him the chance to evaluate the risk of his global portfolio (football
team) (see Fig. 2).
Previous research demonstrated that bank customers reply to
environmental stimuli differently, depending upon the purpose of
399
use (Van der Heijden, 2004). A customer may be motivated to use
a traditional business application (see Fig. 3) purely for utility (e.g.
to inquire or perform nancial transactions), or may choose a
business application with game characteristics and social cues to
engage more actively. In order to account for these motivations,
both business applications, traditional and gamied, (see Figs. 2
and 3), were available to bank customers, between April and
May in 2012.
5.2. Data collection and procedure e questionnaire
To measure customers perceptions after they interacted with
the gamied application (see Fig. 2), and to study the variables
involved, including the respective impact of the application, we
developed a questionnaire based on the objectives of the research.
Data was collected through an online survey with e-banking users/
customers who had used FuteBank (see Fig. 2). Questions were
adapted from previous studies that explore an extension of TAM,
which sought to discover users impressions of gamied business
applications (see Appendix e presents the variables and their
measured items).
The questionnaire was pretested with a small sample of users
who had prior access to the game in order to verify both its usability
and the clarity of the questions. After that, we had the opportunity
to improve some questions, and nalize the questionnaire. We
veried the reliability of the survey through statistical procedures
(using SPSS tool to verify the variance, Skewness, and Kurtosis is-
sues) before launching Futebank, and collected the data using this
validated questionnaire (see Appendix). Likert scales (1-strongly
disagree to 5-strongly agree) were associated with each question
to evaluate participants perception about the gamied business
application.
The conceptual model (see Fig. 1), sought evidence of the in-
uence of all variables in bank customers intention to use gamied
business applications, and the business impact. The data was
operationalized according to the conceptual model adopted (see
Fig. 1), and the relations between the variables were tested and
analyzed through statistical techniques in order to determine the
impact of the gamied application in terms of customer intention
to use it, and on the business itself.
5.2.1. Sample characteristics
To access the new gamied business application, the bank
customer rst has to register to use this nance application, due to
compliance and bank regulations. Of the 862 bank customers
registered, only 427 personalized the user application interface (e.g.
choosing avatars, selecting players, etc.) These users were eligible
to play (buy and sell mutual funds) because they had more than 6
mutual funds necessary to create a football team, thus allowing
them to manage their mutual funds through this new application
(see Table 1).
Of the bank customers that substantively used the gamied
business application, buying, or selling mutual funds through
Futebank, 183 participants answered the questionnaire. Table 2
shows the demographic prole of the bank customers partici-
pants: 161 (88%) were male and 22 (12%) were female; the ma-
jority of the participants were more than 40 years old (62%); and
more than half of the participants (76%) had at least a bachelor
degree.
5.3. Data analysis
Several techniques for data analysis were performed to ensure
that the accuracy of this study complies with the current standards
400 L.F. Rodrigues et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 63 (2016) 392e407

Fig. 2. Mutual fund application with game characteristics (gamied business application).
(Source: Developed for this study.)

Fig. 3. Traditional mutual fund application without game characteristics.

(Source: Developed for this study.)
 L.F. Rodrigues et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 63 (2016) 392e407 401

Table 1 explained by the rst factor extracted in the factor analyses was not
Research hypotheses. greater than 50 percent (Podsakoff et al., 2003).
Hypotheses Positive and signicant inuence The reliability of the measurement model was assessed for
H1 SOC ) GAM
internal consistency using both Cronbachs alpha, and average
H2 ENJ ) GAM variances extracted (AVE). The reliability (internal consistency) of
H3 EOU ) SOC all items was tested with software SPSS v.20. All the coefcients of
H4 ENJ ) SOC reliability (see Table 3) are above the recommended minimum of
H5 USE ) SOC
0.70 Cronbachs Alpha (Hair, Black, Babin, Anderson, & Tatham,
H6 INT ) SOC
H7 USE ) EOU 2006), which is considered as signicant, demonstrating that
H8 ENJ ) EOU the results of the seven dimensions (considered as latent vari-
H9 INT ) EOU ables) and the underlying twenty two items (variables) are highly
H10 ENJ ) USE
reliable.
H11 INT ) USE
H12 INT ) ENJ
Discriminant validity was determined by the square root of the
H13 BUS ) INT AVE (Average Variance Extracted), in terms of whether it exceeds
the correlation between the dimensions (Hair et al., 2006). The AVE
(Source: Own elaboration.)
of all the dimensions was above the suggested level of 0.50,
implying that all the dimensions that ranged from 0.525 to 0.788
were responsible for more than 50 percent of the variance, which
Table 2
Demographic characteristics of the participants.
met the recommendation that AVE values should be at least 0.50 for
each dimension (Holmes-Smith, 2001).
Participants demographic information (N 183) The square root of the AVEs should be greater than the corre-
Attribute(s) Frequency Percent lations among the constructs, which indicates that more variance is
Gender Male 161 88% shared between the construct and its indicators than with other
Female 22 12% constructs. Table 4 shows that the square root of the AVE (diagonal
Age Under 25 5 3% elements in bold) for the dimensions ranges between 0.724 and
25e40 64 35% 0.888. These results indicate that the correlation for each dimen-
Above 40 114 62%
Education level High school 44 24%
sion is less than the square root of the AVE; therefore, the
Bachelors degree 113 62% discriminant validity is adequate.
Master degree 26 14%

(Source: Own elaboration.) 5.4. Data handling techniques

We tested normality and Cronbachs alpha coefcient, which is a

that are considered suitable for scientic research in the eld of
information systems. Therefore, we performed tests relating to
non-response bias, content validity, reliability, and unidimension-
ality, using the EFA (Exploratory Factor Analysis) and CFA (Conr-
matory Factor Analysis techniques), convergent validity,
discriminant validity, and criterion-related validity. The tests of
structural and measurement model were examined via SEM
(Structural Equation Modeling), using AMOS v.18 (Bagozzi & Yi,
1989), a statistical software that provides a detailed analysis of
the interrelationships between modeled variables (Fornell &
Larcker, 1981), which in our case were gamication, perceived
socialness, perceived ease-of-use, perceived enjoyment, perceived
usefulness, perceived intention to use, and business impact.
Some steps were taken during designing the data collection to
reduce common methods bias (CMB). The data was not all collected
at the same time e (the collection was taken from April to May in
2012 e and the online questionnaire was accessible at different
points in the gamied application (Podsakoff and Organ, 1986).
Addressing CMB is not an integral part of SEM, and so auxiliary CFA
analysis needs to be taken out to assess it. Nevertheless, the cross-
loadings CMB creates will be evident in CBSEM through observed
lack of model t, and that was not our case. Additionally, common-
method bias can cause problems if data from single informants are
used for dependent and independent variables. Consequently, to
prerequisite to later apply the statistical modeling technique, SEM
(DeVellis, 2012). The adequacy of model t to the data was veried
through the statistical technique CFA, which is a form of SEM. Ac-
cording to Hooper, Coughlan and Mullen (Hooper, Coughlan, &
Mullen, 2008), complexity determines that a proposed model
tuning is poor; however, with some modications via CFA, the re-
sults can be substantially improved. CFA is a statistical technique
that analyzes the covariance values between variables with the aim
of reassessing both the hypothetical structure and the relationships
between the individual variables. CFA has the goal of identifying
and eliminating (measured) variables that are causing problems
with the model data good t (Gerbing & Anderson, 1984). The
variables removed (see Appendix) may be problematic variables
with high-value Kurtoses (high probability of extreme values), or
squared multiple correlation (R2) with values less than 0.20 (this is
an indication of very high levels of error), or covariance matrix (Phi
(f)) values of 1.0 indicating that the two dimensions are measuring
the same thing. In addition, modication indices are also possible
candidates for deletion, because they are likely to be causing a
discriminant validity problem. However, by deleting indiscriminate
Table 3
Reliability statistics results.

test common method bias, we applied Harmons one-factor test to Dimensions Cronbachs alpha N of items (see Appendix)
the data from the current experiment (Podsakoff and Organ, 1986). GAM-gamication 0.767 3
We did an exploratory factor analysis on all the 23 variables in the SOC-perceived socialness 0.771 3
model, and the unrotated factor analysis revealed that no single EOU-perceived ease-of-use 0.794 4
factor accounted for a bulk of the covariance in the variables. This, ENJ-perceived enjoyment 0.812 3
USE-perceived usefulness 0.772 3
suggest that a common method bias is not a business organization
INT-perceived intention to use 0.715 3
in the present work. Thus, common-method variance (CMV) does BUS-business impact 0.752 3
not seem to be a problem in the present study because the variance
(Source: Own elaboration.)
402 L.F. Rodrigues et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 63 (2016) 392e407

Table 4 application, and, therefore, to feel more driven (or with a strong
Correlations between dimensions and AVE. intention) to use it, which in turn also lead to a strong impact on
EOU SOC GAM USE BUS ENJ INT business, which means that the customer may use it more often.
PEOU 0.777
Perceived ease-of-use had a strong positive inuence on
PSOC 0.587 0.849 perceived usefulness (H7, b 0.56), on perceived enjoyment (H8,
GAM 0.405 0.823 0.845 b 0.51), and on the intention to use the application (H9, b 0.57),
PUSE 0.762 0.711 0.498 0.888 which in turn strongly inuence the business. These results indi-
BUS 0.714 0.701 0.490 0.708 0.724
cate that the game design and social cues developed in Futebank,
PENJ 0.651 0.728 0.612 0.596 0.577 0.822
PINT 0.762 0.794 0.801 0.733 0.718 0.810 0.839 namely ease-of-use and usefulness, combined with the online,
digital animation of a football champions league, which was
Note: The numbers of the diagonal (in bold) are the square root of the AVE for each
dimension. All correlations are signicant at p < 0.01.
perceived as enjoyable, lead the users to have a growing desire to
(Source: Own elaboration.) use the application more, and, consequently, their will and activity
had a positive impact on business.
Relationships not conrmed are also signicant as expected:
perceived usefulness had no inuence on either the perceived
items, the model ts are likely to improve and unlikely to produce
enjoyment (H10), or on customers intention to use the application
any major theoretical repercussions. However, to conrm and
(H11) and perceived enjoyment had no positive inuence on the
explore the theoretical model with SEM technique, it is advisable
customers intentions (H12). Finally, gamication and socialness
that each dimension should have at least two items (Byrne, 1998),
had no inuence on enjoyment (H2 and H4).
and that was respected.
The dimensions were validated by convergent validity and
7. Discussion
discriminant validity, making the reliability of the measurement
model satisfactory. The next step illustrates the process of identi-
We conducted the present study in order to explore the main
fying the relations between the dimensions underlying the con-
dimensions that might inuence banks customers intention to use
ceptual model (see Fig. 1).
a gamied business application. Analyzing the bank customers
responses/perceptions after using Futebank, we identied that
6. Results game-design features (gamication) and social cues (socialness)
are closely related (gamication has a direct and positive inuence
Using the software SPSS AMOS v.18, and after holding the CFA, on socialness), justifying the intention to adopt gamied business
we performed the Chi-square test, which indicated a good t for the application in e-banking. Therefore, we proposed and validated a
data in the conceptual model (Hair et al., 2006): X2 142.9; conceptual model of gamied business applications (cf. Figs. 1 and
(p 0.000); CMIN/DF 2.5; RMR 0.52; GFI 0.90; CFI 0.94; 4). Our ndings enhanced the importance of gamication and
IFI 0.94. For assessment of the degree of causal relationship be- socialness in a business application, promoting easier acceptance of
tween the dimensions, we used the criterion of Cohen (Cohen, e-banking among users/customers.
1988). The results show that gamication is strongly linked with
Results (see Table 5) indicate the standardized coefcients for all socialness, as the more the user has a perception of socialness, the
hypothesized paths in the conceptual model (see Figs. 1 and 4). greater is the customers intention to use the application, which has
Our results show that gamication had a strong positive inu- a positive impact on the business. The use of social cues to provide
ence on socialness perception (H1, b 0.80), which in turn had a avoidance motivation, and social interaction through the users has
strong inuence on the customers intention to use (H6, b 0.66), been also found to be important in other software providers, such
which leads to a strong positive inuence on business impact (H13, as Facebook or Twitter (Ellison, 2007). This similar ndings show
b 0.72). Socialness perception also had a strong positive inuence that gamication should be imbued with mechanisms that afford
on the perception of ease to use (H3, b 0.53), and a medium social interaction to enhance social inuence and the perception of
impact on perceived usefulness (H5, b 0.44). This means that reciprocal benets between customers and business (Hamari,
gamication lead the user to feel more socialized with the Koivisto, & Pakkanen, 2014; Hamari, Koivisto, & Sarsa, 2014).
Previous studies found that socialness and game experience
inuence the attitude towards technology, but until now, it has not
Table 5 been tested in terms of e-business (Childers et al., 2002; Hsu & Lu,
Regression results underling the hypothesis testing. 2004; Deterding et al., 2011; Tang & Hanh Nguyen, 2013). Another
Hypotheses Regression weights Estimate S.E. C.R. p important nding is the inuence played by socialness perceptions
*** in terms of the customers intentions, through its inuence as an
H1 SOC ) GAM 0.804 0.061 13.262
H2 ENJ ) GAM 0.111 0.201 0.553 0.580 intermediate variable, on other variables (such as ease-of-use,
H3 EOU ) SOC 0.537 0.077 6.988 *** usefulness, and intention to use). The same results were found in
H4 ENJ ) SOC 0.358 0.267 1.343 0.179 an e-commerce context in a retail website where social cue features
***
H5 USE ) SOC 0.444 0.093 4.749 were developed to inuence the user intention to use it, and so
***
H6 INT ) SOC 0.660 0.144 4.571
H7 USE ) EOU 0.560 0.113 4.954 *** sales were increased (Wakeeld et al., 2011).
H8 ENJ ) EOU 0.518 0.191 2.720 0.007 We also note that the perceived ease-of-use, such as was found
H9 INT ) EOU 0.573 0.214 2.675 0.007 in the TAM, has a crucial function, with a strong positive inuence
H10 ENJ ) USE 0.061 0.196 0.313 0.755 on usefulness, enjoyment, and the intention to use the gamied
H11 INT ) USE 0.125 0.176 0.711 0.477
business application. In fact, the ease-of-use is a very powerful
H12 INT ) ENJ 0.013 0.133 0.101 0.920
H13 BUS ) INT 0.721 0.086 8.383 *** mediator that inuences technology adoption (Davis, 1989), both
in terms of the perceived usefulness of a technology, and the
S.E.: Approximate standard error; C.R.: Critical ratio; p: Estimated probability of
getting a sample value this far from zero if the population value is zero; ***p is
enjoyment of users (Davis et al., 1992). Other studies conrmed a
statically signicant different from zero at 0.000 levels. positive relationship between ease-of-use and enjoyment, and
(Source: Own elaboration.) between enjoyment and intention to use (Van der Heijden, 2004);
 L.F. Rodrigues et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 63 (2016) 392e407
Fig. 4. Conceptual model proposed with the regression coefcient values.
(Source: Own elaboration.)
however, none of these studies involved a banking environment.
The inuence of ease-of-use and socialness is even more signi-
cant in the e-banking gamied context (with complex products,
such as a mutual fund). This is because the game features and
design can reduce the cognitive effort required to use the appli-
cation (Dubois & Tamburrelli, 2013) and, in this way, satises the
business objectives of having more users spending time on the
website and using its applications. The strong direct impact of
ease-of-use, socialness, on intention to use can probably be
explained by the strong impact of gamication (e.g. game design,
game features, emotional contents, rewards, pleasure, leader-
boards, and others) on socialness (Childers et al., 2002; Deterding
et al., 2011; Hooper et al., 2008; Prendinger et al., 2004). The non-
positive impact of enjoyment and usefulness on intention to use,
can be explained by the nancial context which using the serious
application for investments, could result in nancial loss. Another
factor that could explain the non-inuence of gamication in the
perception of enjoyment is the customers prole, with many
users being men and aged 40 years and over (62% of participants
above 40 years old, and 88% were male) and having a high income
from investments in complex nancial products. The effect of
gender and age may have signicant perceptions affect due to
development and socialization status (Wechselberger, 2013). In
addition, negative attitudes in relation to nancial investments,
and the lack of enjoyment in using the gamied business appli-
cation could result from unpleasant prior experiences, in a situ-
ation of pressure to make some investment or/and due to a
nancial loss (Wechselberger, 2013). As well, perceived enjoy-
ment was found to be a strong predictor of computer system usage
(Davis et al., 1992; Van der Heijden, 2004). Other research sug-
gests that perceived enjoyment does not positively inuence the
behavioral intention to use a computer system (Fagan, Neill, &
Wooldridge, 2008; Shin & Kim, 2008). This was reinforced here,
since perceived enjoyment was not a positive inuence in
customer intention to use the gamied business application.
This study also proved that the users perceptions of usefulness
and enjoyment were not inuential in terms of the intention to use
a gamied business application. As well, gamication and useful-
ness have no positive inuence on perceived enjoyment, neither in
403
the intention to use the business application. In other works, we
similarly found that enjoyment does not inuence the intention to
use an e-learning system (Hamari, 2013), or has little inuence on it
(Punnoose, 2012). Also, a weak or missing of inuence of usefulness
on intention to use was identied in the study of Juniwati (Juniwati,
2014), about online shopping. Usefulness had no signicant inu-
ence on repurchase intent, because (culturally) people prefer to
socialize when they go shopping (Lin, Fang, & Tu, 2010). Other re-
searchers (e.g. Cheema, Rizwan, Jalal, Durrani, & Sohail, 2013) also
found no signicant relationship between the perceived usefulness
of online applications and the intention to shop online. The non-
positive inuence of enjoyment and usefulness in intention to
use this gamied business application can also be explained by
external factors (e.g. serious nancial crisis, lack of condence in
the banking system, product complexity, nancial risk, high regu-
lation, customer prole, etc.). In addition, some external factors can
have a decisive inuence on the lack of usefulness in TAM, but
empirical tests were not realized to explore which of these factors
were in play (Davis, Bagozzi, & Warshaw, 1989).
The ease-of-use inuence on the perception of enjoyment
shows that the easier the software is to use, the greater is the
perception of enjoyment, which accords with other studies
(Ramayah & Ignatius, 2005), where we also concluded that the
ease-of-use of technology has a positive effect on the intention to
use it.
According to the TAM model, there is a positive relationship
between the acceptance of online services and the lack of useful-
ness and ease-of-use. In fact, it was identied that this relationship
is more complex in e-banking than is usually recognized (Singer
et al., 2012). In addition, the frequency and the experience of the
use of e-banking might have a negative impact on the lack of
usefulness and ease-of-use (Singer et al., 2012). For example, the
higher the frequency and the user experience in banking websites,
the smaller is the lack of usefulness. Thus, higher frequency of use
of the gamied application during the game time (two months) can
justify the non-positive inuence of usefulness on intention to use
it.
The results show that gamication and socialness play an
important role in e-banking intention to use and in electronic
404 L.F. Rodrigues et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 63 (2016) 392e407
business, which is in accordance with Gartner predictions (Gartner,
2012). Furthermore, gamication engages customers to use and
perform nancial products online, with the support of an enjoyable
game design and social cue features that will contribute to the ease-
of-use and usefulness of e-banking and, consequently, to the
improvement of business. Thus, gamied applications can increase
online sales, and improve the quality of service/system use, which
are viewed as highly important for marketing and business metrics
(Hamari & Koivisto, 2013). Therefore, the results suggest implica-
tions for managerial and business purposes regarding effects on
customer engagement to use online banking applications. Our
ndings are important, since no paper, until now, seemed to infer
the relationship between gamication and purchase behavior, or
business impact (Hamari, Koivisto, & Pakkanen, 2014; Hamari,
Koivisto, & Sarsa, 2014).
These results are very relevant and show that the customers, at
the same time, consider what we may take to be a software
hedonic-oriented, has software user-oriented. In addition, it ap-
pears to indicate that gamication (game features), social cues
(Avatars) and an interactive interface have a strong effect on cus-
tomers attitudes, and consequently, on the business of the bank.
However, we cannot generalize these results to all e-banking sys-
tems, because in this study the gamied business application was
only available for current bank customers who held a minimum of
six mutual funds in their portfolio.
While the theoretical foundation for the ndings analyzed in
this gamied business application is underpinned in this empirical
study, the implementation of assorted cases of online games
technologies in different contexts of e-banking requires further
investigation. It would be interesting to ascertain why some vari-
ables in this eld do not induce a positive inuence in the intention
to use the application Futebank. The lack of signicance of
perception of enjoyment and perception of usefulness in cus-
tomers intention to use the application may indicate that the
employment of actual money to buy mutual funds is perceived as a
serious task that customers do not see as enjoyable.
Future research that examines more clearly the user views and
the hedonic intent of the business application in use may help to
understand these effects. For example, some customers may
consider visiting the gamied software as an enjoyable diversion.
Similarly, others may visit a gamied software specically to have a
better perspective of their fund portfolio and the product risk
through a graphical and interactive design. How such bank cus-
tomers would respond to technology engendering gamication,
and website socialness features, may interact with the general ef-
fects reported here.
Our ndings reinforce other results in previous research
(Agarwal & Venkatesh, 2002; Wakeeld et al., 2011; Yoon, 2002,
2009) that identied and explained users attitudes towards on-
line shopping, contributing to understanding how gamication (a
new dimension here operationalized) has a positive inuence on
socialness, which, in turn, has a clear impact on the ease-of-use and
intention to use a gamied business application, and nally, on the
business itself.
8. Conclusions
In the present study, we explore the relationship between
gamication, socialness, ease-of-use, usefulness, enjoyment, and
intention to use a gamied e-banking mutual fund application,
and the corresponding business impact. According to the results
(see Fig. 4), we concluded that gamication and socialness are
benecial for e-banking, since they have an impact on customer
intention to use a business software, and subsequently, inuence
positively the bank business. Gamication is a very effective strat-
egy for banks to use in order to motivate customers to increase their
use of the website, thus increasing their nancial activity. This is
because the game design elements and social cues, applied to e-
business software, provide several advantages, particularly in terms
of the applications perceived usefulness and the users ease-of-use
and intention to use e the stronger the perception of socialness, the
greater the perception of ease-of-use, usefulness, and the intention
to use the website. However, the users perceptions of enjoyment
and usefulness, isolated (by itself), do not inuence the intention to
use the gamied business applications. Finally, the users percep-
tions of ease-of-use have a relevant impact on intention to use the
gamied business application, indicating also a strong inuence on
usefulness and enjoyment.
This paper presents a new conceptual model to predict behav-
ioral intention towards gamied e-banking, enhancing seven di-
mensions (gamication, socialness, ease-of-use, usefulness,
enjoyment, intention to use, and business impact) that affect the
adoption of e-banking by bank customers. This model contributes
to the understanding of gamied business applications, and pro-
vides banks with relevant indications for the development of game
design and social cues in business software, also directing future
research in this new promising eld. From a business perspective,
gamication and socialness may be applied as input to give eco-
nomic savings, reducing the face-to-face relationship, and sus-
taining the development of online transactions performed directly
by the customers. In addition, the reward mechanisms may moti-
vate customers to use the website more frequently, increasing their
nancial activity and again reducing the face-to-face relationship,
which is more costly. We should also note that gamied business
applications might improve the customers usage experience, their
learning about bank processes or products, thus promoting their
enjoyment to adopt online banking channels.
This work contributes to the discussion about the implications
of purposeful design, gaming features, and social cues on e-banking
applications.
Many empirical studies have validated the TAM original model
and its interrelationships, whereas other studies have recom-
mended enhancements to the original model. Founded on these
contributions, we project an updated TAM model, adding gami-
cation and socialness to serve as a base for the positioning and
comparing of other empirical researches in e-business with game
design and social cues. The conceptual model provides researchers
and practitioners with a tool to classify and interpret the extensive
spectrum of purposeful game design in serious commercial enter-
prise applications.
Overall, our study identies the primary aspects that should be
weighed when applying or evaluating gamication approaches in
e-banking. The ndings contribute to a better understanding of
gamication in e-banking, and have important practical implica-
tions for software development and marketing practices. Particu-
larly in the banking sector, nancial products are complex to
understand, and customers still resist using electronic channels to
perform nancial activities and manage their investments. Now we
know that games can help make a serious application more
attractive and easy to use, leading customers to more closely
engage with the products with which they play.
The results of this research may help the e-business marketer to
identify the right design features, and encourage researchers to
continue testing and challenging the conceptual model in future
studies involving serious and gamied business applications.
 L.F. Rodrigues et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 63 (2016) 392e407 405

Appendix. Questionnaire and descriptive statistic

a) Questions adapted for the study objectives.

Author a) Measurements items Variable Mean Variance Skewness Kurtosis

Wakeeld et al. (2011) Friendly QGAM1 3.82 1.42 0.804 0.356

Wakeeld et al. (2011) Interactive QGAM2 4.13 1.04 1.067 0.520
Wakeeld et al. (2011) While navigating on this website, I felt a sense of adventure QGAM3 3.46 1.28 0.196 1.177
Wakeeld et al. (2011) Awards increases my involvement in the game QGAM4* 4.05 0.72 1.650 4.265
Wakeeld et al. (2011) Helpful QSOC1 3.61 1.14 0.597 0.076
Wakeeld et al. (2011) Informative QSOC2* 3.68 1.05 0.334 0.267
Wakeeld et al. (2011) Intelligent QSOC3 3,86 1.05 0.601 0.253
Van der Heijden (2003) I can quickly nd the information I need on this game QEOU1* 3.78 0.97 0.693 0.506
Wakeeld et al. (2011) It is ease to select the players/Mutual Funds QEOU2* 3.70 0.90 0.218 0.868
Wakeeld et al. (2011) It would not be time consuming to purchase a mutual fund QEOU3 3.53 0.82 0.044 0.176
Van der Heijden, Verhagen, and My interaction with this game is clear and understandable QEOU4 3.81 0.78 0.719 0.381
Creemers (2003)
Wakeeld et al. (2011) During the navigation process, I felt excitement with the game animation QENJ1 3.82 1.07 1.134 1.100
Wakeeld et al. (2011) The enthusiasm of this website is catching; it picks me up QENJ2* 3.51 1.33 0.238 1.056
Wakeeld et al. (2011) This website it entertains me with the football championship analogy QENJ3 3.73 0.84 0.599 0.366
Moon and Kim (2001) This website provides good quality information to manager my players/funds and QUSE1 3.66 1.00 0.501 0.255
may team/portfolio
Gillenson & Sherrell, (2002) This website is useful for selecting the best players/mutual funds QUSE2 3,63 0.90 0.017 0.816
Wakeeld et al. (2011) I would be willing to use this website QUSE3* 3,51 2.21 0.546 1.106
Agarwal and Karahanna (2000) I intend to use this game in the future QINT1 3.63 1.13 0.258 0.630
Tang and Hanh Nguyen (2013) Im likely to recommend this software to my friends QINT2 4.05 1.34 1.193 0.669
Sykes, Venkatesh, and Gosain (2009) Social network connection increases my participation QINT3* 3.87 1.16 0.701 0.060
Wakeeld et al. (2011) Follows my mutual funds from this website would t my business interests QBUS1 3.91 1.03 0.864 0.478
Choi and Kim (2004) Information sharing increase my the game utility QBUS2 3.63 1.07 0.469 0.133
Choi and Kim (2004) It is t my business objectives the connection between the serious business QBUS3* 4.02 0.66 0.707 0.259
application and the game
*
Indicates dropped item to increase dimension reliability analysis.

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Lus Filipe Rodrigues is a PhD student at ISCTE-IUL, Lisbon, Portugal. He received the
B.S. and M.S. degrees in Information Technology from ISLA-Lisboa and ISEG-Lisboa
respectively. While working as CIO/CTO in a Bank his research and writing about gami-
cation in e-banking, web design characteristics and business software development.
Ablio Oliveira is an Assistant Professor, at Instituto Universitario de Lisboa (ISCTE-
IUL), Lisboa, Portugal, and a Researcher at Information Sciences, Technologies and
Architecture Research Centre (ISTAR-IUL), Lisboa, Portugal. Scientic Prole: https://
ciencia.iscte-iul.pt/public/person/agoa; Personal page: abiliooliveira.weebly.com
rio de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL),
Carlos J. Costa is an Assistant Professor at Instituto Universita
Lisboa, Portugal, and a Researcher at Information Sciences, Technologies and Archi-
tecture Research Centre (ISTAR-IUL). He was invited professor in MSc Programs from
Portuguese Open University. Previously also worked in an IT consulting rm and in an
Investment Bank. His research interests are Collaborative Systems, ERP, Open Source
and Robotics.