How different gamified leaderboards affect individual students’ learning engagement, strategies, performance, and perceptions in online classes

Leaderboards visually display social comparison results. The effects of specific situational factors embodied by absolute and relative leaderboards have received little attention. In this study, we compared the effects of an absolute and a relative leaderboard on students’ learning engagement, strategies, performance, and perceptions in fully online classes. The results showed that, compared with the absolute leaderboard group, comparison with neighboring competitors in the relative leaderboard group led to a higher level of learning engagement and performance, and encouraged constructive competitiveness that motivated the students to prioritize knowledge mastery over mere task completion. The students at all levels in the relative leaderboard group reported a satisfied, motivated, and progress-oriented attitude. Although the top-ranked students in the absolute leaderboard group were motivated to work harder and were happy to see their achievements publicly displayed, the middle- and bottom-ranked students reported increased peer pressure as they progressed. Our findings lead to the following two practical implications. First, use relative leaderboards to foster constructive competition. Second, limit the public display of the rankings of bottom-ranked students to enhance their learning motivation and engagement. <br>