The use of gamification in tourism management education: The effect of gamification on motivation, engagement, and achievement

The primary aim of this study is to investigate the effects of gamification-based instructional practices on student motivation, engagement, and academic achievement in undergraduate tourism management programs through an experimental method. The research was conducted during the fall semester of the 2023–2024 academic year with second-year students enrolled in the Tourism Marketing course at the Faculty of Tourism, Eskişehir Osmangazi University. The study adopted a pretest-posttest control group experimental design. Based on absenteeism criteria, students were assigned to experimental and control groups. The experimental group received weekly gamified instructional elements designed explicitly in alignment with the course content, while the control group was taught using traditional instructional methods. Data were analyzed using dependent and independent samples t-tests. The findings indicate a statistically significant increase in the motivation levels of the experimental group between the pretest and posttest. Furthermore, a significant difference was observed between the groups regarding posttest motivation scores. Similar statistically significant differences were identified in the engagement variable. However, no significant difference was found between the groups regarding academic achievement. Additionally, no significant differences were observed across gender in motivation, engagement, or achievement. These results suggest that gamification-based instructional practices have a meaningful and positive impact on student motivation and engagement, regardless of gender. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that gamification-based instruction effectively enhances motivation and engagement in undergraduate tourism management programs and may be applicable across various educational contexts.