Peter Smagorinsky, Andie Brasley, Rebekah Johnson and Lisa Shurtz
This paper aims to describe a letter written to undergraduate students before their enrollment in a required foundations course, Service-Learning in English Education, taken…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to describe a letter written to undergraduate students before their enrollment in a required foundations course, Service-Learning in English Education, taken before admission to the English education program at [the university]. The course, offered in the spring of 2017, came on the heels of Donald Trump’s election to the US Presidency, an event that followed from a campaign that raged against “politically correct” social developments that respect the dignity of people historically marginalized in US society.
Design/methodology/approach
The letter lays out the perils of teaching a diversity-oriented course in an era of disdain for diverse people and cultures. The letter explains how the course design attempts to give all interpretive authority to the students through their selection of course books and the book club design of promoting discussion outside professorial surveillance.
Findings
The paper includes the comments of three students regarding their response to the letter and course, and concludes that teaching a politicized course in a tempestuous time is risky yet possible.
Originality/value
This paper looks at one teacher educator’s approach to introducing diversity-related ideas in a Red State during an anti-diversity presidency.
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Rory Francis Mulcahy, Rebekah Russell-Bennett, Nadia Zainuddin and Kerri-Ann Kuhn
The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to extend transformative service and social marketing practitioners’ and academics’ understanding of how gamification and serious…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to extend transformative service and social marketing practitioners’ and academics’ understanding of how gamification and serious m-games are designed, and second, to model the effects of game design elements on key transformative service and social marketing outcomes, satisfaction, knowledge, and behavioural intentions.
Design/methodology/approach
The research adopted a two-study, mixed-method research design, encompassing focus groups (n=21) and online surveys (n=497), using four current marketplace serious m-games. Study 1 was qualitative and the data were analysed in two cycles using an inductive and deductive approach. Study 2 was quantitative and the data were analysed using PLS-SEM.
Findings
The qualitative results of Study 1 discovered a framework of five game design elements for serious m-games. In Study 2, a conceptual model and hypothesised relationships were tested at a full sample level and by each serious m-game. Results show different significant relationships for each serious m-game and moderate to high levels of explanation for satisfaction and knowledge, and low to high levels of explained variance for behavioural intentions. The findings are therefore not only robust across four different serious m-games, but also demonstrate the nuances of the relationships.
Originality/value
This research contributes to two service research priorities: leveraging technology to advance services, and improving well-being through transformative services. This research demonstrates that gamification through serious m-games is one form of technology that can be designed to create a satisfying and knowledge-creating service experience, which can also influence intentions to perform health and well-being behaviours.
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Rory Francis Mulcahy, Nadia Zainuddin and Rebekah Russell-Bennett
This study aims to investigate the use of gamification and serious games as transformative technologies that encourage health and well-being behaviors. The purpose of this paper…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the use of gamification and serious games as transformative technologies that encourage health and well-being behaviors. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the transformative value that can be created by gamified apps and serious games and the role involvement plays between transformative value and desired outcomes.
Design/methodology/approach
Four gamified apps/serious games were examined in the study, with data collected from N = 497 participants. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling.
Findings
The results revealed that gamified apps and serious games can create three transformative value dimensions – knowledge, distraction, and simulation – which can have direct and indirect effects on desired outcomes. Examination of competing models revealed involvement plays a mediating rather than a moderating role for gamification and serious games for well-being.
Originality/value
This research contributes greater understanding of how technology can be leveraged to deliver transformative gamification services. It demonstrates the multiple transformative value dimensions that can be created by gamified apps and serious games, which assist the performance of well-being behaviors and which have yet to be theorized or empirically examined. The study also establishes the mediating rather than the moderating role of involvement in gamification and serious games, as called for in the literature.
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Rebecca G. Cowan and Rebekah Cole
The purpose of this study is to provide mental health practitioners with a framework for conceptualizing individuals who may be at risk of targeted violence, mass shootings in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to provide mental health practitioners with a framework for conceptualizing individuals who may be at risk of targeted violence, mass shootings in particular.
Design/methodology/approach
Through the lens of the Path to Intended Violence model, a non-experimental descriptive design was chosen to explore the characteristics and behaviors of perpetrators who had engaged in mental health treatment within six months before their attacks.
Findings
The perpetrators in this study demonstrated behaviors included in each of the stages of the Path to Intended Violence model. Thus, it may be important for practitioners to be familiar with this model, especially the earlier stages, to potentially identify and intervene with individuals who may be at risk of committing mass violence.
Originality/value
This paper highlights how the Path to Intended Violence model can provide practitioners with a framework for identifying progressive warning signs in patients and how to take action to stop them from continuing their journey toward violence.
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Afshin Tanouri, Rory Mulcahy and Rebekah Russell-Bennett
The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to test a hierarchical model with interrelationships between social support, value and brand equity to examine the effect of a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to test a hierarchical model with interrelationships between social support, value and brand equity to examine the effect of a transformative gamification service on users’ well-being behaviors; and second, to demonstrate the usefulness of brand equity to measure social behavior brands encouraged via transformative gamification services.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected (n=351) via users of a transformative gamification service delivered via mobile in Iran. Structural equation modeling was used to test the model.
Findings
The results revealed that the hierarchical model had a superior fit to the data over rival models measuring constructs at lower orders. The results also reveal that value mediates the relationship between social support and brand equity for social behavior.
Originality/value
This is the first study to hierarchically test a model for transformative gamification services. Furthermore, it begins to shed light on the antecedents of value created within transformative gamification services, which to date have not been thoroughly explored. Finally, the study demonstrates brand equity is applicable beyond commercial campaigns and services and can be used to measure social (well-being) behaviors.
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Rory Francis Mulcahy, Ryan McAndrew, Rebekah Russell-Bennett and Dawn Iacobucci
Marketers have begun to investigate the potential of gamification for influencing consumer behavior by using game design elements in realms varying from branding, retail, sales…
Abstract
Purpose
Marketers have begun to investigate the potential of gamification for influencing consumer behavior by using game design elements in realms varying from branding, retail, sales and health services. Marketers have also begun to explore consumer behavior in sustainability. This paper aims to provide contributions to build on both literatures.
Design/methodology/approach
This research tests gamification principles in a large field study on real consumers that includes data from pre-post surveys, gamified app analytics and household energy meters. The data are analyzed using ANOVA’s and structural equation modeling.
Findings
The findings demonstrate: gamification significantly enhanced consumers’ knowledge, attitudes, behavioral intentions and realized bill savings compared to a control group; reward-based game design elements including points, badges and other rewards contribute to enhancing sustainable behavior outcomes.
Research limitations/implications
Future research in settings outside of sustainability may extend upon the findings of the current research to further understanding the impact of reward-based game design elements in marketing.
Practical implications
The findings have important practical implications for how organizations might use serious games to promote sustainable and other desirable behavior. In particular, how reward-based game design elements, points, trophies and badges, can be used to create a chain of relationships that leads to reduced electricity consumption.
Originality/value
This paper fulfills the need to understand if the impact of gamification extends outside of controlled environments and into the field. Further, it demonstrates how reward-based game design elements contribute to consumers changing their behavior, a relationship that is not yet thoroughly understood in the marketing literature.