Gamification of task performance with leaderboards: A goal setting experiment
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Design decisions can lead to variance in the effect sizes of certain game design elements, as shown for leaderboards and achievements.
“Such design decisions can lead to variance in the effect sizes of certain game design elements as shown in the context of leaderboards (Landers et al. 2017) and in the context of achievements, showing that effectivity of achievements strongly depends on the design (i.e., the quantity and difficulty of achievements; Groening and Binnewies 2019).”
From The gamification of learning: a meta-analysis (2020) · cites this paper as Landers et al. 2017
Leaderboards implemented to foster competition can be interpreted as goals, suggesting that leaderboards with easy goals would likely be less effective than leaderboards with difficult goals.
“Landers et al. (2017) showed how leaderbords that are implemented to foster competition can be interpreted as goals, suggesting that leaderbords with easy goals would likely be less effective than leaderboards with difficult goals.”
From The gamification of learning: a meta-analysis (2020) · cites this paper as Landers et al. 2017
Game design elements such as likes, badges, skill levels, and leaderboards are used to increase learning in online courses, exercise on e-health platforms, or performance in standard organizational tasks.
“This is the idea behind using game design elements such as likes, badges, skill levels, and leaderboards to increase learning in online courses, exercise on e-health platforms, or performance in standard organizational tasks (Denny, McDonald, Empson, Kelly, & Petersen, 2018;Koivisto & Hamari, 2019;Landers, Bauer, & Callan, 2017).”
From Relative Feedback Increases Disparities in Effort and Performance in Crowdsourcing Contests (2022) · cites this paper as Landers, Bauer, & Callan, 2017
Studies exploring gamification show that the use of game design elements (eg, points and scoreboards) can improve motivation.
“This finding is supported by studies exploring gamification of tasks, where the use of game design elements (eg, points and scoreboards) can improve motivation [47,48].”
From Wearable technology for high-frequency cognitive and mood assessment in major depressive disorder: longitudinal observational study (2019) · cites this paper as [47]
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“Gamification is also defined as the application of game design elements like points, leaderboards, and badges in a non-game context, to provide a game-like learning experience (Landers et al., 2017).”
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“One further intrinsic variable that influences motivation, engagement and behavioral change is purpose (Pink, 2009) as an expression of goal setting (Jung et al., 2010; Landers, Bauer, & Callan, 2015; Landers & Callan, 2011; Latham, 2003; Locke & Latham, 2002).”
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Adaptation of Gaming Features for Motivating Learners
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“Nevertheless, little conceptual or empirical research is available that explores the use of gamification as a goal-setting intervention [20].”
BackgroundGamification in medical education: identifying and prioritizing key elements through Delphi method
Wang, Y.-F., Hsu, Y.-F., Fang, K., & Kuo, L. (2024) · Medical Education Online · doi:10.1080/10872981.2024.2302231 · Cited by 84 · see citing works
“The effects of gamification elements on learning are illustrated by both extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation [12], supported by the operant conditioning theory [3], the expectancy-based theories, the self-regulation [13], and the self-determination theories [8,14].”
Cormack, F., McCue, M., Taptiklis, N., Skirrow, C., Glazer, E., Panagopoulos, E., van Schaik, T. A., Fehnert, B., King, J., & Barnett, J. H. (2019) · JMIR Mental Health · doi:10.2196/12814 · Cited by 79 · see citing works
“This finding is supported by studies exploring gamification of tasks, where the use of game design elements (eg, points and scoreboards) can improve motivation [47,48].”
Key Elements of mHealth Interventions to Successfully Increase Physical Activity: Meta-Regression
Eckerstorfer, L. V., Tanzer, N. K., Vogrincic-Haselbacher, C., Kedia, G., Brohmer, H., Dinslaken, I., & Corcoran, K. (2018) · JMIR mhealth and uhealth · doi:10.2196/10076 · Cited by 74 · see citing works
Balci, S., Secaur, J. M., & Morris, B. J. (2022) · Education and Information Technologies · doi:10.1007/s10639-022-10983-z · Cited by 74 · see citing works
“These favorable ratings could be interpreted as the leaderboard’s ability to provide clear goals to students and motivate them extrinsically to be at higher ranks in the leaderboards, in addition to providing feedback about their status among others (Landers et al., 2015).”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialIndividualizing gamified systems: The role of trait competitiveness and leaderboard design
Höllig, C. E., Tumasjan, A., & Welpe, I. M. (2018) · Journal of Business Research · doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.10.046 · Cited by 74 · see citing works
Mazarakis, A., & Bräuer, P. (2022) · International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction · doi:10.1080/10447318.2022.2041909 · Cited by 71 · see citing works
“Still, there are at present only very few experimental studies (Christy & Fox, 2014; Huschens et al., 2019; Landers et al., 2017; Sailer, Hense, Mayr, et al., 2017) that consider the effects of individual game design elements.”
BackgroundLeung, A. C. M., Santhanam, R., Kwok, R. C.-W., & Yue, W. T. (2022) · Information Systems Research · doi:10.1287/isre.2022.1123 · Cited by 71 · see citing works
Festival gamification: Conceptualization and scale development
Liu, C., Wang, Y., Huang, W., & Tang, W.-C. (2019) · Tourism Management · doi:10.1016/j.tourman.2019.04.005 · Cited by 70 · see citing works
Validation of User Preferences and Effects of Personalized Gamification on Task Performance
Tondello, G. F., & Nacke, L. E. (2020) · Frontiers in Computer Science · doi:10.3389/fcomp.2020.00029 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
Having some fun with it: A theoretical review and typology of activity‐based play‐at‐work
Celestine, N. A., & Yeo, G. (2020) · Journal of Organizational Behavior · doi:10.1002/job.2444 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
Giunti, G., Mylonopoulou, V., & Rivera-Romero, O. (2018) · JMIR mhealth and uhealth · doi:10.2196/mhealth.9437 · Cited by 68 · see citing works
Alhalafawy, W. S., & Tawfiq Zaki, M. Z. (2022) · International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (iJET) · doi:10.3991/ijet.v17i06.28885 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
Effective Online Engagement Strategies Through Gamification
Jayawardena, N. S., Ross, M., Quach, S., Behl, A., Gupta, M., & Lăng, L. Đ. (2021) · Journal of Global Information Management · doi:10.4018/jgim.290370 · Cited by 64 · see citing works
“The most frequently mentioned game dynamics in the gamification literature include rewards, competition, self-expression, and kindness (Jo, Jun, & Lim, 2018; Kaufmann, 2018; Landers, Bauer, & Callan, 2017; Mullins & Sabherwal, 2020; Park, Liu, Mun, & Santhanam, 2019; Santhanam et al., 2016).”
BackgroundInfluentialStudents' Acceptance of Gamification in Higher Education
Chung, C., Shen, C.-Y., & Qiu, Y.-Z. (2019) · International Journal of Game-Based Learning · doi:10.4018/ijgbl.2019040101 · Cited by 64 · see citing works
Thomas, N. J., & Baral, R. (2022) · The International Journal of Management Education · doi:10.1016/j.ijme.2022.100718 · Cited by 70 · see citing works
Why to gamify performance management? Consequences of user engagement in gamification
Bizzi, L. (2023) · Information & Management · doi:10.1016/j.im.2023.103762 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
Internet-of-Gamification: A Review of Literature on IoT-enabled Gamification for User Engagement
Xiao, R., Wu, Z., & Hamari, J. (2021) · International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction · doi:10.1080/10447318.2021.1990517 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
“(4) Enhance users’ performance by correctly setting goals, subgoals, and difficulties (Hamari, 2017; Landers et al., 2017).”
BackgroundKrath, J., & von Korflesch, H. F. O. (2021) · Lecture notes in computer science · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-77277-2_18 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
Howard, M. C., & Davis, M. M. (2022) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2022.107197 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
“Instant feedback is also an important aspect of many important elements of gamified programs, such as score and leaderboards (Jahn et al., 2021; Landers et al., 2017; Moro et al., 2019).”
BackgroundQiao, M. S., Chu, S. K. W., Shen, X., & Yeung, S. S. (2022) · Journal of Computer Assisted Learning · doi:10.1111/jcal.12684 · Cited by 71 · see citing works
David, L., & Weinstein, N. (2023) · European Journal of Psychology of Education · doi:10.1007/s10212-023-00734-0 · Cited by 102 · see citing works
“Other studies have also indicated positive outcomes (Bai et al., 2021; Christy & Fox, 2014; David & Weinstein, 2023; Landers et al., 2017; Landers & Landers, 2014; Pettit et al., 2015).”
Gamification for HRD: Systematic Review and Future Research Directions
Thomas, N. J., Baral, R., & Crocco, O. S. (2022) · Human Resource Development Review · doi:10.1177/15344843221074859 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
Designing Cooperative Gamification
Morschheuser, B., Maedche, A., & Walter, D. (2017) · ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) · doi:10.1145/2998181.2998272 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
An interdisciplinary perspective on gamification: Mechanics, psychological mediators and outcomes
Helmefalk, M. (2019) · International Journal of Serious Games · doi:10.17083/ijsg.v6i1.262 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
“These are points, badges and leaderboards, and are in the majority of studies used as a starting point for inquiring into the effects on users [19, 109].”
BackgroundTrang, S. T.-N., & Weiger, W. H. (2020) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2020.106644 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Esmaeilzadeh, P. (2021) · JMIR Serious Games · doi:10.2196/28282 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
“Users understand what constitutes their position on the leaderboard and what actions could be taken to raise the leaderboard compared with their peers [26].”
BackgroundReyssier, S., Hallifax, S., Serna, A., Marty, J.-C., Simonian, S., & Lavoue, E. (2022) · IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies · doi:10.1109/tlt.2022.3153239 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
“These studies did not consider the individual characteristics of learners, which can account for the different and sometimes contradictory impacts of gamification observed on learner motivation and engagement [13]–[14].”
Coelho, F., Rando, B., Aparício, D., Ribeiro, P. C. P. S. V., Gonçalves, D. J. V., & Abreu, A. M. (2025) · Journal of Computers in Education · doi:10.1007/s40692-025-00366-x · Cited by 76 · see citing works
“Leaderboards showed a strong impact in a brainstorming task, working as a goal-setting tool that boosted idea generation and performance (Landers et al., 2017a, 2017b), and outperformed game elements of cooperation and badges in boosting learning performance (Puritat, 2019).”
Albertazzi, D., Ferreira, M. G. G., & Forcellini, F. A. (2018) · Technology Knowledge and Learning · doi:10.1007/s10758-018-9374-z · Cited by 48 · see citing works
Wiecek, E., Torres-Robles, A., Cutler, R. L., Benrimoj, S. I., & García‐Cárdenas, V. (2020) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/17834 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Online Versus Offline Perspectives on Gamified Learning
MacNamara, D., & Murphy, L. D. (2017) · TRAP@NCI (National College of Ireland) · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Mitigating the Adverse Effect of Monetary Incentives on Voluntary Contributions Online
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“The motivational effects of challenge-seeking are also found in the design of videogames [49], educational materials [48], and gamification tasks [39].”
BackgroundRajani, N. B., Mastellos, N., & Filippidis, F. T. (2021) · JMIR Serious Games · doi:10.2196/27290 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
“Similarly, goal-setting theory, another prominent theory of motivation, has been associated with gamification; for example, elements such as leaderboards and levels provide individuals with smaller, more immediate goals that can improve task performance and, in turn, increase one’s confidence in their ability to compl…”
BackgroundBehl, A., Sampat, B. H., Gaur, J., Pereira, V. E., Laker, B., Shankar, A., Shi, Y., & Roohanifar, M. (2023) · Technovation · doi:10.1016/j.technovation.2023.102915 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
Lavoué, É., Ju, Q., Hallifax, S., & Serna, A. (2021) · International Journal of Human-Computer Studies · doi:10.1016/j.ijhcs.2021.102670 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
“In line with these results, Landers et al. [18] showed that the engagement of learners achieving learning goals was the same with and without the presence of a leaderboard.”
Exploring the relationships between gamification and motivational needs in technology design
Tang, J., & Zhang, P. (2018) · International Journal of Crowd Science · doi:10.1108/ijcs-09-2018-0025 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Desain Pembelajaran Matematika Berbasis Gamifikasi untuk Meningkatkan Minat Belajar Siswa
Permata, C. A. M., & Kristanto, Y. D. (2020) · JNPM (Jurnal Nasional Pendidikan Matematika) · doi:10.33603/jnpm.v4i2.3877 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
The Rise of Motivational Information Systems: A Review of Gamification ResearchPreprint
Koivisto, J., & Hamari, J. (2017) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.3226221 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
Ten Years of Gamification-Based Learning: A Bibliometric Analysis and Systematic Review
Al-Hafdi, F. S., & Alhalafawy, W. S. (2024) · International Journal of Interactive Mobile Technologies (iJIM) · doi:10.3991/ijim.v18i07.45335 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
Exploring Learners Experience of Gamified Practicing: For Learning or for Fun?
Dicheva, D., Irwin, K., & Dichev, C. (2019) · International Journal of Serious Games · doi:10.17083/ijsg.v6i3.299 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
“The combination of goals and feedback has been shown to positively impact performance [35, 36].”
Backgroundda Silva, J. N., Castro, G. D. L., Leite, A. J. M., Monteiro, A. J., & Alexandre, F. S. O. (2022) · Journal of Chemical Education · doi:10.1021/acs.jchemed.1c00766 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Gamification Aspects of Fitness Apps: Implications of mHealth for Physical Activities
Kim, H.-M., Cho, I., & Kim, M. (2022) · International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction · doi:10.1080/10447318.2022.2073322 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
“…common gamification elements used in previous empirical studies were self-monitoring (Edwards et al., 2016; Munson & Consolvo, 2012), goal-setting (Landers et al., 2017; Munson & Consolvo, 2012), social facilitation (Hamari & Koivisto, 2015a, 2015b; Raman, 2021; Xi & Hamari, 2019), and rewards…”
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Qiao, M. S., Yeung, S. S., Shen, X., & Chu, S. K. W. (2022) · British Journal of Educational Technology · doi:10.1111/bjet.13178 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
Correcting Misconceptions About Gamification of Assessment: More Than SJTs and Badges
Armstrong, M. B., Ferrell, J. Z., Collmus, A. B., & Landers, R. N. (2016) · Industrial and Organizational Psychology · doi:10.1017/iop.2016.69 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Self-citationGameful Self-Regulation: A Study on How Gamified Self-Tracking Features Evoke Gameful Experiences
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Gamification, motivation, and engagement at work: a qualitative multiple case study
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“Such a tendency could have caused a significant difference in the post-test scores (Landers et al., 2017; Landers & Landers, 2014).”
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Self-citationDynamic Tournament Design: Evidence from Prediction Contests
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Mobile applications, physical activity, and health promotion
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“Studies show that gamification elements (e.g., point systems, leaderboards) significantly improve user engagement and adherence [42, 43]; (ii) users who integrate app usage into their daily routine (e.g., setting reminders, using streak-based incentives) are more likely to sustain engagement [32];…”
The effect of leaderboard in different goal-setting levels
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Leaderboards in an EFL course: Student performance and motivation
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- Authors
- Landers, R. N., Bauer, K. N., & Callan, R. C.
- Affiliations
- Old Dominion University (US)
- Illinois Institute of Technology (US)
- Corresponding author
- Landers, Richard N.
- Venue
- Computers in Human Behavior
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2017-06
- Volume
- 71
- Pages
- 508-515
- ISSN
- 0747-5632 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1741765804
- Cited by
- 474
- References
- 62
- Citations by year
- 2026: 42 · 2025: 50 · 2024: 49 · 2023: 72 · 2022: 48 · 2021: 64 · 2020: 44 · 2019: 48 · 2018: 40 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 7
- FWCI
- 47.84
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Computers in Human Behavior (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Educational Games and Gamification
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Digital Games and Media
- Social Sciences › Human Factors and Ergonomics › Employee Performance and Management
- Keywords
- gamification, leaderboards, goal setting theory, employee motivation, task performance, goal commitment, individual differences
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