How Gamification Features Drive Brand Loyalty: The Mediating Roles of Consumer Experience and Brand Engagement

In the digital age, gamification has emerged as a paramount strategy for strengthening brand–consumer interaction. Despite the fact that existing studies have extensively probed further into its effects on brand communication and sales performance, rare investigations have been reported to throw light upon how gamification features influence consumer experience, brand engagement, and brand loyalty, as well as the potential mediating mechanisms involved. For this reason, this research delved into these correlations by employing structural equation modeling (SEM) grounded in 461 valid responses from consumers familiar with a co-branded gamification campaign between a tea beverage brand and a gaming IP. The results illustrated that immersion, achievement, and social interaction dramatically reinforced consumer experience, which led to brand engagement and, in turn, strengthened brand loyalty. Furthermore, consumer experience and brand engagement both mediated gamification feature effects on brand loyalty. By constructing and validating a generalized model, the current study not only practically expands the gamification literature but also empirically illuminates mechanisms through which gamification features contribute to loyalty formation in co-branded settings.