Modelling Critical Impeding Factors of Gamification Adoption: An ISM‐MICMAC Analysis

ABSTRACT Gamification is a transformative technology that attracts consumers and motivates them toward desired actions through fun and engagement. Despite its growing popularity and influence on user behavior, gamification faces significant challenges in acceptance and implementation due to behavioral, technological, economic, and regulatory factors that remain fragmented in the literature. Identifying and understanding these scattered impeding factors can help businesses maximize the opportunities that gamification technologies afford. This study adopts an integrated approach combining a systematic literature review, theoretical perspectives, and expert opinions to identify and prioritize key barriers to gamification adoption. The findings reveal eleven key gamification adoption barriers and structure the hierarchical interdependencies among these barriers using Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM). Further, the study categorizes these barriers based on their driving and dependence power through MICMAC (Matrice d'Impacts Croisés Multiplication Appliquée à un Classement) analysis to provide strategic insights. This study is among the first to present insights through the integration of Innovation Resistance Theory (IRT) and the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), complemented by expert inputs. While regulatory ambiguity, ethical considerations, security vulnerabilities, trend skepticism, budgetary constraints, lack of interactive interfaces, addiction, and negative competitive dynamics emerge as key barriers, culture and the digital awareness gap are identified as the most influential barriers to gamification adoption. The study also catalogues gamification adoption barriers within a comprehensive framework based on their source, namely, those arising from consumers, industry, academia, and regulatory bodies. Finally, this study concludes by offering meaningful mitigation strategies along with theoretical and managerial implications to address these barriers, while also outlining directions for future research.