Gamification in Supply Chain Management Education: Enhancing Engagement and Learning Outcomes through Game-Based Techniques

This study explores how gamification affects students’ engagement, motivation, and learning in courses focused on Supply Chain Management (SCM). Gamification, or introducing game elements — like points, levels, and leaderboards — to non-game settings, provides interactivity and practical, hands-on learning. In the field of Supply Chain Management (SCM), which requires complex decision-making and real-world applications, it is important for students to build their problem-solving, decision-making, and collaboration skills, and gamified learning environments can facilitate learning in these areas. A gamification approach that categorizes learning materials into cards was applied to multiple SCM topics involving 104 undergraduate students at Faculty of Business and Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. And data was collected with pre-game and post-game assessments, surveys, participation rates and qualitative feedback. The findings reveal that gamification method led to a significant increase in student engagement, as the participants showed higher motivation and better understanding of SCM principles. The course was gamified and the students outperformed their peers in more traditional settings; they scored better on exams and had a deeper understanding of key concepts. It begins with the contrasting nature of traditional textbooks with SCM, resulting in the need for a higher level of engagement and how gamification can facilitate this process to create a more compel participation atmosphere. Post-implementation challenges such as resistance from students and instructors and the crucial alignment of game mechanics and course content are also discussed. Future studies may examine the application of gamification in other areas, and explore its long-term effects on student learning.