The Effect of the Gamification of Brand Communication Using Personality Tests on Communication Attitude and Brand Attitude

The concept of gamification, including its mechanics in the marketing field, has become a fast-emerging practice to increase customer engagement. This study examined the mechanics by which consumers who enjoy personality tests provided by brands respond positively toward the brands as well as their engagement with and attitudes toward the tests, in terms of gamification. An online survey was conducted with consumers who had experience engaging with such personality tests being employed as brand communication tools related to aspects of lifestyle including fashion and interior decoration, resulting in a final dataset of 337 respondents. A PLS-SEM analysis was performed using SmartPLS 3.0 to test the research model. The results demonstrated that the gamification characteristics of usefulness, enjoyment, and social influence had effects on brand attitude mediated by communication engagement and communication attitude. Among them, enjoyment had the most powerful effect on communication engagement and attitude. Furthermore, social influence emerged as pivotal in shaping communication attitudes, indicating the need for socially interactive content in brand communications. This research provides an understanding regarding the characteristics of the gamification of marketing communication and holds a practical and theoretical implication for how brands might use personality tests to augment consumers' intrinsic gamification motivation and positive brand attitudes.