Leaderboards in Gamified Information Systems for Health Behavior Change: The Role of Positioning, Psychological Needs, and Gamification User Types

Leaderboards are widely used in gamified information systems (IS) for health behavior change (HBC) to evoke both instrumental and experiential outcomes within users. In literature, however, they are often discussed controversially as they are perceived positively by some users but discouraging by others. In this work, we investigate under which circumstances users’ position on the leaderboard influences their attitudes toward an mHealth app. Based on self-determination theory and the gamification user types hexad, we conducted an online experiment among 179 potential users. The results support our hypotheses that positioning influences perceived competence and relatedness, which alongside perceived autonomy positively impact users’ attitude. Yet, our findings do not support the assumption that the relationship between needs and attitude is moderated by gamification user type. This finding reinforces recent research which questions the effectiveness of user type-based gamification and calls to focus on general need satisfaction.