Would gamification affect high and low achievers differently? A study on the moderating effects of academic achievement level

Gamification has been reported to increase learning motivation and produce positive learning behaviors or outcomes. As gamification research continues to mature, more studies are investigating factors that may contribute to the varying effectiveness of gamification, as well as factors that may moderate its effects. This study investigated whether academic achievement levels moderated the effects of gamified learning among 118 students enrolled in a private higher education institution in Malaysia. Previous studies have shown that high, medium and low achievers do not respond equally to gamification. To explore this further, the current study evaluated gamification’s effect on motivational dimensions such as the sense of competence, intrinsic motivation, valuation and engagement on different levels of achievers. The findings showed that academic achievement levels moderated gamification’s effect on valuation. Nevertheless, there was no significant moderation effect on competence, intrinsic motivation and engagement. The findings also revealed that gamification produced more significant effect on low-level achievers compared to high level achievers.