How gamified cooperation and competition motivate low-carbon actions: An investigation of gamification in a popular online payment platform in China

• Published in: Journal of environmental management Vol. 324; p. 116259
• Main Authors: Cao, Yu, Kou, Furou, Hu, Hanli, Wan, Guangyu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 15.12.2022
• Subjects: Competitive interaction; Cooperative interaction; Gamification design; Goal-framing theory; Pro-environmental behavior; User participation; Pro-environmental behavior; Goal-framing theory; Cooperative interaction; Competitive interaction; Gamification design; User participation
• ISSN: 0301-4797; 1095-8630
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.116259

Climate change caused by excessive carbon emission has become one of the most severe problems facing the world's ecosystems and human society. Promoting low-carbon actions is an effective means of alleviating climate problems. Gamified interactions have recently emerged as a promising and practical idea to promote low-carbon actions; however, research on the effect of gamification design on consumers' pro-environmental behavior is still at a nascent stage. This study tried to explore the impact mechanisms of two common gamified interactions, competition and cooperation, on consumers' low-carbon actions through goal-framing theory. The proposed hypotheses were tested using a structural equation model based on survey data collected from Ant Forest users on Alipay, one of the popular online payment platforms in China. The results show that while both cooperative and competitive interactions could promote users' low-carbon actions, the incentive effect of cooperation was more significant. In addition, cooperative interactions stimulated users' normative, hedonic, and gain motivations to adopt low-carbon actions, whereas competitive interactions only motivated hedonic and gain goals. The study findings provide new insights into the role of gamification in influencing low-carbon behaviors and offer practical guidance for the design of gamification for related green and low-carbon platforms. [Display omitted] •Gamified green platforms can induce non-environmental participants to engage in pro-environmental behaviors.•How gamified interactions promote users' low-carbon actions is studied.•Gamified interactions significantly promote users to practice low-carbon actions.•The impact of cooperative interactions is more significant than competitive interactions.•Normative, gain, and hedonic goals are important motivations driving users' low-carbon actions.