In addition to extrinsic motivation, which was discussed in the above section, engagement and intrinsic motivation is crucial to learner development. Keeping students or participants engaged when learning is one of the most important component to consider when developing content.

Two of the most well-known theories of intrinsic motivation are Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (There are many who say that his work is not founded in good research so must be taken with a pinch of salt, but it has some merit so we are using it here.), and Self Determination Theory. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs corresponds with both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, where the intrinsic motivation concurs with esteem and self-actualization. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theorizes that individuals require certain needs to be fulfilled before having the ability to learn effectively. The first layers of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs are Physiological, Safety and Love/Belonging; intrinsic motivation for learning cannot occur without these needs being met. A recent study argues that “gamification enhances user engagement through the mediation of psychological needs satisfaction between game dynamics and enjoyment” (Suh et al 2016). When players are participating in a game, they develop a sense of belonging, one of the core needs from Maslow’s theory.

Another perspective on intrinsic motivation is through Deci and Ryan’s Self Determination Theory. This theory also describes various factors that must be fulfilled for intrinsic motivation to occur. The three main components of Self-Determination Theory are Relatedness, Autonomy and Competence. Gamification also enhances user engagement through satisfying autonomy, competence and relatedness (Suh et al 2016). Marczewski researched this aspect further, through a gamification perspective, and agrees that Relatedness, Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose are “much more important to our feeling of satisfaction than pure rewards can be” (Marczewski 2020).

Entrepreneurial Education and Engagement - Recent studies have investigated the positive effects of incorporating gamified learning into education, and of interest to this research, on entrepreneurial learning. Gamification has been proven to increase knowledge retention by 40%, improve engagement levels by up to 200% and even change how we perceive our work environment. Adding a little bit of a game aspect into a course can help students become more creative thinkers, productive workers, and ultimately successful entrepreneurs of the future (Vermeulen 2021).

Game-based learning and gamification create excitement about entrepreneurship-related topics by developing imaginative solutions that will make the world a better place. Games motivate discussions about important business concepts like marketing, customer acquisition strategies, long-term planning, or even financial management. As we all know, adults learn best when they’re interested and engaged in what they are doing, but this is stronger for youth. They need to be interested and invested more than anyone else in completing a task. Virtually every moment in a game is linked to a decision a player has made. How this relates to real life is that while participants are playing, they are also learning about trial and error along with cause and effect. These are vital lessons for young people to learn as early as possible, both for entrepreneurship and for life itself.

The assessment of student learning outcomes shows that the gamified approach enhanced students’ experience, engagement, and entrepreneurial self‐efficacy (Diane 2020). Furthermore, findings from the assessment of gamification on entrepreneurial programming corroborate studies showing the positive impacts of gamification on user experience and engagement, motivational affordances, and entrepreneurial self-efficacy (Deterding et al., 2011; Hamari, 2017; Seaborn & Fels, 2015). Gamified learning helps make any content seem more exciting, and even addicting for students (Vermeulen 2021, Diane 2020).

Entrepreneurship is a skill like any other, but not everyone learns it at the same pace. For those who have different learning styles or maybe don’t have the same aptitude for entrepreneurship as others, gamified learning can be great because it breaks big concepts into smaller, more manageable pieces. Note that this gamified approach can also be adapted to a variety of courses and desired learning outcomes (Diane 2020). In our industry we are also looking at adding gaming elements and/or game-based learning to our youth employment programming as well.