Personalization in educational gamification: Learners with different trait competitiveness benefit differently from rankings on leaderboards

Leaderboards are among the most prevalent game elements and are widely used in educational gamification. However, most research has primarily compared learning scenarios using leaderboards with those not using leaderboards, ignoring the role of specific components of leaderboards such as rankings. Given that learners’ perceptions of leaderboards depend on their rankings, this study investigated how rankings (high vs. low) and learners’ trait competitiveness (high vs. low) influence learning in educational gamification. Sixty-one high-trait-competitiveness and sixty-two low-trait-competitiveness learners were randomly assigned to either high-ranking or low-ranking conditions. The results revealed the moderating role of trait competitiveness in the relationship between leaderboard rankings and learning. Interestingly, higher rankings were more beneficial in enhancing learning motivation of learners with low trait competitiveness, while lower rankings had more positive effects on performance of those with high trait competitiveness. Additionally, negative emotions mediated the relationship between rankings and learning performance, while the mediating effect of learning motivation was only significant for learners with low trait competitiveness. The implications of these findings for the design of effective gamified learning environments based on learners’ characteristics were discussed.