From game to gain: how gamified HRM enhances pay equity and work engagement in digitally native workforces

Abstract The emergent disengagement crisis in the global workplace has mandated the organizations to evaluate and adopt new Human Resource Management practices. Gamification has been one such approach, where the underlying mechanisms of employee outcomes are yet to be understood, appropriately. In this study, we have tested a conceptual framework on “how gamification in Human Resource Management impacts work engagement?” Further, the perceived pay equity and pay satisfaction are tested as sequential mediators, while digital nativity as a moderator. Theoretical premises of gamification are based on Equity Theory as an overarching theory, supported by Job Demands-Resources model. Data were collected from 292 employees in digitally adaptive organizations at Rawalpindi and Islamabad, Pakistan. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling was used to test the hypothesized relationships. The results indicate that gamification substantially raises the perceived pay equity, which is highly significant to predict pay satisfaction, and consequently employee engagement. Sequential mediation proves that gamification can indirectly lead to better engagement through increase in fairness perceptions and pay satisfaction. In addition, digital nativity slightly enhances the relationship between gamification with perceived pay equity, and this implies that technological familiarity is a boundary condition in gamification of Human Resource Management. The results extend Equity Theory with Job Demands-Resource model in respect of fairness and satisfaction as the key mediators between gamified Human Resource Management and engagement, while digital nativity acts significantly as moderator. In practice, the study highlights the necessity to evolve gamified Human Resource Management systems that are being transparent, fair, and all inclusive in regard to different degrees of digital competence. The study has provided future research directions to include psychological safety and digital savviness.