Gamification of Enterprise Systems: A Lifecycle Approach

Introducing an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system within an organization can bring many benefits and paybacks, yet an effective implementation of a fully functioning ERP system is still a challenge. The odds are high the costly investment might turn into an implementation failure or even lead to bankruptcy. To prevent such situations, organizations need to go through several changes, and carefully manage the critical success factors affecting each stage of the ERP implementation lifecycle, respectively. Previous studies have observed that the majority of the challenges faced during the implementation of ERP systems arise from social and organizational aspects rather than technical ones. This is where gamification comes to the rescue. This research adopts a design science paradigm in an attempt to develop a gamified process for the ERP lifecycle, to ease and enhance the ERP implementation process. The objective of this research is threefold. Firstly, to explore the benefits ERP systems can render via the gamification of the ERP lifecycle. Secondly, to pinpoint the ERP lifecycle phases that are most likely to benefit from gamification. Thirdly, to gamify these formerly identified phases; that were found to be mostly affected by gamification, and test for the impact of gamification on them. (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.