Impact of mobile technology-enabled HR gamification on employee performance: An empirical investigation

• How does mobile technology-enabled HR gamification affect employee job performance? • Our central thesis was tested with a survey dataset from 134 Spanish firms. • Mobile technology is associated with the execution of HR gamification initiatives. • HR gamification initiatives improve job satisfaction and employee engagement. • Employee engagement and job satisfaction are the pathways to improve job performance. This study draws from the information technology (IT)-enabled organizational capabilities perspective, technology affordance theory, and theoretical foundations of organizational gamification to examine how firms’ usage of mobile technology may be associated with the execution of human resource (HR) gamification initiatives and its effect on employee job performance and financial performance. Our central thesis was tested with a survey dataset from 134 firms. We found that: (1) Mobile technology-enabled HR gamification initiative improves job satisfaction and employee engagement and (2) employee engagement and job satisfaction are the pathways to improve job performance and create business value from IT.