Unveiling motivational configurations in shaping meaningful engagement in green gamification

Green gamification embeds game elements into non-game green information systems to tackle environmental degradation by encouraging pro-environmental behaviours. However, its real-world impact has been limited by a lack of meaningful engagement among users. To overcome this challenge, it is crucial to promote meaningful engagement through motivations and explore the intricate relationships that underlie them. We propose a configurational model based on self-determination theory to explore how different motivations combine to impact the two meaningful engagement outcomes: experiential outcome (participation for positive experience) and instrumental outcome (participation to fulfil specific tasks). Using a two-wave longitudinal design with both subjective and objective data, we conduct necessary condition analysis and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis to identify four configurations that stimulate meaningful engagement. Specifically, the experiential outcome is driven by a combination of high hedonic, high pro-environmental, high social interaction, and low recognition motivations. The instrumental outcome is enhanced by configurations of high intrinsic (hedonic and achievement), low pro-environmental, and high self-expression (or low recognition) motivations. These findings yield four propositions that provide a theoretical foundation for future research and practical insights for designing more effective green gamification applications.