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Fostering creativity through gamification : a case study of the Information Technology industry

In an era of information explosion, cut-throat global competition and fast-paced innovation, small software companies have no alternative but to be more creative. This thesis aims to investigate the impact of using gamification as a creativity fostering mechanism on the proliferation of creative ideas in Banan Information Technologies, a small software development company in Sudan. Through quantitative and qualitative analysis, the thesis studies gamification’s influence on the number and quality of ideas proposed within the gamification experience. To better quantify quality, certain software quality assessment metrics, inspired by the industry’s best practices, were utilized and adhered to by a cohort of software experts. The case study presented in this thesis aimed to understand not only the direct impact of the utilization of gamification as a creativity catalyst, but also – through deep, hours-long interviews – strived to grasp the wider cultural and psychological ramifications of employing such mechanism. Gamification was found to have a strong impact on the number of ideas proposed over the tenure of the study, with the total number of ideas jumping almost fourfold in comparison to the number of ideas reported in an equally-long period prior to the introduction of gamification. The quality of proposed ideas deteriorated, however, averaging only half of the records reported over the said prior period. Through qualitative analysis, the researcher tried to investigate the reasons behind these figures. Interviews revealed myriad factors that may have affected the quantity and quality of ideas, ranging from peer pressure and internal campaigning within the company to fearing that one’s high-quality idea will be lost in the midst of mediocre ideas

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:kth-189281
Date January 2015
CreatorsIDRIS, AYMAN
PublisherKTH, Entreprenörskap och Innovation
Source SetsDiVA Archive at Upsalla University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeStudent thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text
Formatapplication/pdf
Rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

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