The hurdles of saving the world: conflicts and survival tactics of gamified sustainable consumption app creators

Purpose This study aims to increase our understanding of the value and ethical conflicts faced by sustainable consumption app (SCA) creators when applying gamification to support individual sustainability practices. The results include practical strategies and recommendations toward responsible innovation and sustainable human–computer interaction. Design/methodology/approach This study consists of semi-structured interviews with 21 SCA creators, an online survey on moral foundations and thematic mapping. Findings The apps’ content, expected impact, managerial issues and external aspects influencing their survival emerged as the four areas across which resources, the creators’ intentions, growth and trust-building strategies and gamification as a value destroyer and source of ethical tensions represent the main conflict areas. These tensions comprise engagement vs individual agency loss; third-party involvement and partnerships; rewards vs oversimplification; mandatory use vs personal drive; current knowledge vs further education; learning from others; stakeholders’ risks; experience vs unwanted outcomes and the meaning of value and collaborative design. The strategies to address these represent responsible innovation practices and are this study’s main contribution. Research limitations/implications Including insights from non-European SCA creators and users could help identify additional opportunities for SCAs to meet their objectives. Originality/value While studies on SCAs from the user perspective are abundant, this study takes the creators’ perspective to understand the dilemmas behind such tools. Focusing on ethical concerns and the value of gamification as a strategy to achieve the apps’ objectives offers a unique perspective for improving some of the most popular tools that enable sustainable consumption.