The impact of gamification on consumer loyalty, electronic word-of mouth sharing and purchase behavior

Firms often strive to acquire and increase the number of patronizes. Gamification - a modern marketing and promotional tool is known activate positive emotions. Nevertheless, existing research has rarely examined how gamification shapes consumer loyalty and other tangible outcomes. The present research aims are twofold. First, this study examine how gamification affects consumer loyalty. Second, this study investigates how consumer loyalty resulting from gamified interactions manifest purchase and eWOM sharing behavior. Data were obtained using a simple random sampling technique from consumers who had multiple online transactions with a gamified eCommerce website in the last 3 months. The obtained data was analyzed using a variance-based structural equation modeling (VB-SEM) technique. Results from VB-SEM confirmed that gamification is a predictor for enhanced consumer loyalty. Consumer loyalty did not only foster purchase intention and eWOM sharing behavior, but also mediate the link between gamification and purchase intention, and between gamification and eWOM sharing behavior. This article contributes to gamification marketing literature by empirically examining its effects on important marketing variables. Implications for theory and practice are discussed alongside limitations and future research course.