Applying cognitive evaluation theory to analyze the impact of gamification mechanics on user engagement in resource recycling

Public awareness of the need to protect the environment has been on the rise given the widespread, continuous degradation of the global environment. Governments and businesses play important roles in fostering public acceptance of eco-friendly products and in increasing people's use of resource recycling to achieve sustainable development. The present study, thus, explores how a website's gamification mechanics influence the intrinsic motivations and needs satisfaction of users as well as their engagement in resource recycling. In addition, it investigates how environmental concerns moderate the relationships between intrinsic motivations and user engagement. The results reveal that gamification helps foster user engagement in resource recycling by influencing needs satisfaction (i.e., relatedness, competence, and autonomy) between gamification mechanics and intrinsic motivations (i.e., self-presentation, self-efficacy, and flow). For users with high vs. low environmental concerns, intrinsic motivations have a more significant effect on their engagement in resource recycling. It is found that gamification not only creates intrinsic motivation, but it is also likely to facilitate the satisfaction of psychological needs through mechanisms such as self-expression, point rewards, and competition. This research adds to the literature by contributing a slightly different understanding of the success of gamification.