The influence of gamification affordance on knowledge sharing behaviour: an empirical study based on social Q&A community

The academic community has spent a lot of time and effort in recent years discussing the fact that gamification has a significant positive impact on encouraging user engagement behaviour. As the mainstream of current research, gamification affordance refers to the action possibilities provided by the gamified elements and features of gamified systems. However, there is a lack of research on how to improve users’ knowledge sharing behaviour by introducing gamification affordances into the social question and answer (Q&A) community. This study develops a causal relationship model between gamification affordance and knowledge sharing behaviour by utilising the social Q&A community as the research object. The fundamental characteristics of gamification affordance which users value are defined through a semi-structured interview based on a focus group. The results of the structural equation model analysis on Chinese users (n = 310) demonstrate that gamification affordances enhance the gamified experience of users, thus improving user satisfaction, and ultimately affecting users’ knowledge sharing behaviour. Furthermore, this study explored the important role of gamification affordance in the development of the social Q&A community and verified the significant role of gamified experience in enhancing the psychological outcomes of users. The study concludes with a discussion-worthy theoretical and practical significance.