Gamification in team-based microlearning: trends and future directions

Purpose This literature review explores the field of gamification for team-based microlearning, aiming to uncover dominant themes and provide insights for organizational learning strategies. Design/methodology/approach A structured search on the Scopus database was conducted, using a query focusing on “gamification,” “microlearning,” and “team-based” to enhance organizational learning dynamics. A total of 104 documents were systematically reviewed and analyzed. Bibliometric analysis via VOSviewer was performed to identify thematic clusters. Findings The findings reveal a positive effect of gamified microlearning on learner engagement, team collaboration, and skills development. The six themes that emerged from the literature were gamified foundation for team-based microlearning, gamification for team decision-making and critical skills, engagement mechanics in team microlearning games, socially interactive gamified microlearning, game-driven microlearning for collective knowledge enhancement, and gamification design for collaborative microlearning. The themes illustrate the enhancement of knowledge through game design elements, interaction amongst peers, and sustained motivation in team-based microlearning modules. Research limitations/implications This study is limited to Scopus-indexed literature and descriptive clustering. It uncovers six themes and future research directions that offer actionable guidance for researchers to undertake newer studies. Practical implications The study shares takeaways for practitioners, illustrating how gamification can boost engagement and collaboration and develop essential team skills within the framework of structured microlearning. Originality/value This study is among the first to systematically cluster and analyze the intersection of gamification, microlearning, and team-based learning, offering a distinctive contribution by mounting six themes as a framework for collaborative microlearning.