  Only 21% of employees consider themselves engaged at work. Moreover,
disengagement has been shown to be even more problematic when work is
repetitive in nature. Lack of engagement has been linked to variety of negative
outcomes for employees and companies (e.g., turnover, absenteeism, well-being,
safety incidents, productivity). Gamification, i.e., integrating game elements
into work systems, has been successfully used to increase engagement and
motivation, even when work tasks were mundane and repetitive. In the current
study, we focused on a commonly used game element, goal setting, through the
lens of self-determination theory and goal-setting theory. We argue that goals
given by an external source (e.g., company, experimenter) produce extrinsic
motivation, which improves engagement and performance only in the short term.
We posit that self-set goals lead to more autonomous motivation, and therefore
long-term engagement and performance. One hundred two participants completed a
repetitive material-handling task in one of three conditions (assigned goal,
self-set goal, no goal). Results showed that perceived autonomy (autonomous
motivation) and performance were best when goals were self-set. Engagement,
however, was equal between self-set and assigned goals. The results indicate
that self-set goals have the greatest potential to generate long-term positive
outcomes both for employees and companies.
