SMEs’ contribution to the Agenda 2030

In recent years, the relevance of sustainability issues has seen increasing interest in both public bodies and private companies. Sustainability is linked to sustainable development, which relates to the actions that need to be taken to support development in current times while not reducing the resources for the next generations (Brundtland & Khalid, Reference Brundtland and Khalid1987). As institutional actors can create or change social and economic dynamics and provoke a change in the environment, businesses are core actors in the path towards sustainable change (Elkington, Reference Elkington1994). Specifically, businesses are now trying to identify ideal trade-offs between optimal product, service performance, and improved social and environmental effects to create a sustainable value proposition for businesses. This is connected to the duality of businesses’ contribution to sustainability, such as sustainable innovation and corporate sustainability (Boons & Lüdeke-Freund, Reference Boons and Lüdeke-Freund2013).

In this context, multiple initiatives were taken (Cosma, Principale, & Venturelli, Reference Cosma, Principale and Venturelli2022). For example, in 1992, the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro saw the launch of Agenda 21, a comprehensive plan of action to be taken on a national and local level by the organisations and governments connected to the United Nations System (United Nations, 1992). Similarly, launched in 2000, the United Nations Global Compact is a corporate sustainability initiative to propose a framework for developing more responsible and sustainable businesses (United Nations Global Compact, 2020). Among these initiatives and based on the Millennium Development Goals, the current Agenda 2030 – provided by the United Nations – is a major contribution to pursuing sustainable development through the achievement of 17 SDGs (Sachs, Reference Sachs2012). The 17 SDGs include all the most relevant dimensions of sustainability and provide some specific under-goals to contribute to grand challenges such as environmental care, economic and social development, and biodiversity. Specifically, because of its capability to legitimise business activity, Agenda 2030 has received attention through enhanced transparency and marginal changes in product design (Silva, Reference Silva2021). Moreover, the attention to specific topics – as with biodiversity care – has suggested paying attention to indirect business impacts on the environment and communities (Sobkowiak, Cuckston, & Thomson, Reference Sobkowiak, Cuckston and Thomson2020).

Following the introduction of Agenda 2030, corporations were impacted on different levels. On this point, a bibliometric study published by Pizzi et al. (Reference Pizzi, Caputo, Corvino and Venturelli2020a) contributes to the topic by tracing the boundaries of management research on Agenda 2030. Revealing how Agenda 2030 management research is still quite fragmented, the research has identified four main areas of study: technology, non-financial reporting, education, and developing countries. The technology can influence Agenda 2030 pursuit through the use of recent innovations such as the blockchain since it enhances security, traceability, and transparency for managerial and control issues. In addition, the use of technology is strictly connected to the developing countries’ current path towards the digital economy. However, there is also a need for management research to identify the risks associated with the use of new resources (Gomez-trujillo, Velez-ocampo, & Gonzalez-perez, Reference Gomez-trujillo, Velez-ocampo and Gonzalez-perez2020). On the other hand, scholars have recognised the role of non-financial reporting as pivotal. Concerning the increasing need for transparency and legitimisation, accounting systems must evolve to effectively represent businesses’ contribution to the SDGs (Bebbington & Unerman, Reference Bebbington and Unerman2020). Such a concept is then strictly connected to the role of education in the SDGs. As revealed by Schaltegger (Reference Schaltegger2018), there is still a lack of knowledge of the role played by sustainability within business practices. In these terms, and linking with this study’s premises, gamification appears to be a dynamic and transversal topic, which can simultaneously include the potential advantages connected to digital technologies, the need for accounts on SDGs required by stakeholders, and education on the relevance of sustainability challenges.

In light of the most recent normative changes that impacted sustainability reporting (Pizzi et al., Reference Pizzi, Caputo, Venturelli and Caputo2022a), the relevance of the binomial SDGs and non-financial reporting is an area of interest for scholars. Specifically, different studies tried to explore the topic by focusing on the various entities using SDGs reporting as an accountability tool. Regarding large corporations’ contribution to the Agenda 2030, the study provided by van der Waal and Thijssens (Reference van der Waal and Thijssens2020) reveals how the disclosure of SDGs is still marginal and linked to the adoption of other disclosure practices. Specifically, the authors stated that the field is still evolving and that businesses are hesitant about approaching SDGs. The study provided by Avrampou, Skouloudis, Iliopoulos, and Khan (Reference Avrampou, Skouloudis, Iliopoulos and Khan2019) focuses on a specific sector and offers some insights into banks’ accountability to SDGs. Specifically, the study reveals that, from an organisational side, few steps have been made and that SDGs reporting is not following a specific rationale. From a different side, higher education institutions are also contributing and reporting to the Agenda 2030 by linking their GRI (Global Reporting Initiative)-based disclosures to the SDGs. In this field, social goals are polarised, as goal 4 ‘Quality Education’ (Caputo, Ligorio, & Pizzi, Reference Caputo, Ligorio and Pizzi2021). Similarly, other public institutions have shown a certain interest in disclosing the social goals of Agenda 2030, albeit showing a low grade of accountability (Pizzi et al., Reference Pizzi, Caputo and Venturelli2020b).

Concerning the SMEs’ context, multiple issues arise. First, intended as global goals to pursue sustainable development, the SDGs often cannot meet the need of small businesses that aim to act more ‘locally’ (Smith et al., Reference Smith, Discetti, Bellucci and Acuti2022). Difficulties in the contribution to the SDGs emerge when SMEs face the multiplicity of tools available for SDGs’ accountability. Specifically, SMEs find that using tools, websites, and frameworks for SDG disclosure and contribution is time-consuming and difficult (Dalton, Reference Dalton2020). Finally, while highlighting the need for more government attention, Lu et al. (Reference Lu, Liang, Zhang, Rong, Guan, Mazeikaite and Streimikis2021) suggest that the scarce contribution to SDGs often results in perverse practices such as greenwashing and selective disclosures in the SME context. Interestingly, Pizzi et al. (Reference Pizzi, Del Baldo, Caputo and Venturelli2022b) revealed that the more companies do their business in institutional contexts with a long-term orientation and a balance between indulgence and restraints, the more they are available to disclose their efforts towards the SDGs.

The difficulties that SMEs face in practical contribution to the SDGs are reflected in the perplexities highlighted by scholars. Specifically, it is required to deepen the understanding of different and easier-to-adopt tools that could be both engaging for SMEs’ internal and external actors while effectively contributing to SDGs (Dalton, Reference Dalton2020). Moreover, as companies are prone to the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies, there is a need for research to understand how SMEs are adopting digital tools for achieving sustainability and contributing to the Agenda 2030 (Belyaeva & Lopatkova, Reference Belyaeva and Lopatkova2020; Pizzi, Venturelli, Variale, & Macario, Reference Pizzi, Venturelli, Variale and Macario2021).

In these terms, the scientific scenario linked to the relationship between SMEs and Agenda 2030 appears fragmented and quite recent. There is need to understand how the ‘local’ feature of SMEs is driving the adoption of sustainable practice appears, as a major challenge for accounting and management scholars. Finally, the scarcity of studies on SMEs and SDGs traces the boundaries of a new field of research on Agenda 2030.

The role of gamification in promoting sustainable development

In recent years, the adoption of gamification practices has been representing a trend in increasing growth because of its positive effects in terms of improved engagement of users and the adoption of good practices as better social interactions as a result of different ‘gameful’ activities (Hamari, Koivisto, & Sarsa, Reference Hamari, Koivisto and Sarsa2014). As described by Deterding, Dixon, Khaled, and Nacke (Reference Deterding, Dixon, Khaled and Nacke2011), ‘gamification’ relates to ‘the use of design elements characteristic for games in non-games contexts’; in other words, ‘gamifying’ is a process that relates to the promotion of certain activities or practices, oriented to certain goals, and characterised by a certain degree of game elements (e.g., rules, time constraints, and challenges). Recently, the increasing interest in such practices has been motivated by the need to engage stakeholders on topics that could relate to financial, social, or environmental dimensions (Robson, Plangger, Kietzmann, McCarthy, & Pitt, Reference Robson, Plangger, Kietzmann, McCarthy and Pitt2015). The validity of adopting gamification results in better user interactions and autonomy, along with increased emotional engagement (Dale, Reference Dale2014; Xi & Hamari, Reference Xi and Hamari2019) as well as to motivate cooperation (Riar, Morschheuser, Zarnekow, & Hamari, Reference Riar, Morschheuser, Zarnekow and Hamari2022).

More recently, the interest in gamification has also been driven by the introduction of digital features in game design. In this field, one relevant approach is detected in advertising gamification. Specifically, by introducing advertising in digital games, boundaries between entertainment and advertising are reduced, resulting in an effective gamification approach (Terlutter & Capella, Reference Terlutter and Capella2013). Furthermore, with the use of more modern technologies on smartphones and mobile devices, it emerges how gamification can also result in the engagement of new generations (Skinner, Sarpong, & White, Reference Skinner, Sarpong and White2018).

Concerning managerial applications of gamification, the tourism sector is one field considered in the literature. Specifically, gamification in this field allows an increased engagement of users, along with the co-creation of experiences and educational paths (Xu, Buhalis, & Weber, Reference Xu, Buhalis and Weber2017). From a different perspective, gamification applications are related to knowledge management practices which, on the other hand, find more difficulty in application in the short term (Friedrich, Becker, Kramer, Wirth & Schneider, Reference Friedrich, Becker, Kramer, Wirth and Schneider2020).

Also, the accounting practice has seen the application of gamification practices. In particular, evidence is available concerning accounting education practices. In recent years, multiple tools have been adopted – mostly in higher education environments – to try and effortlessly improve sustainability management and accounting learning by people (Caetano & Felgueiras, Reference Caetano and Felgueiras2021). Specifically, the study by Silva, Rodrigues and Leal (Reference Silva, Rodrigues and Leal2021) revealed how students can be motivated and engaged in accounting curricula if gamification is adopted. On the other hand, evidence emerges in sustainability control and accountability practices. Specifically, in the SME field, little research has discussed the topic, and it has emerged that it can be a solution for rewarding employees besides the managers when considering sustainability goals (Johnstone, Reference Johnstone2022).

Concerning the relationship between gamification and sustainability, few contributions have been published in management and accounting literature. This approach, recently introduced in strategic planning processes (Mandujano et al., Reference Mandujano, Quist and Hamari2021) as highlighted by Douglas and Brauer (Reference Douglas and Brauer2021), is particularly suitable and favourable for sustainable initiatives. They point out that gamification has already been used to improve pro-sustainability attitudes (with particular regard to sustainability education, energy reduction, transportation, air quality, waste management, and water conservation), showing a more positive effect in comparison to other methods, for example in terms of more prolonged psychological engagement. Moreover, Morganti et al. (Reference Morganti, Pallavicini, Cadel, Candelieri, Archetti and Mantovani2017) demonstrated gamification’s role in generating pro-environmental behaviours, while Berger and Schrader (Reference Berger and Schrader2016) revealed its efficacy in encouraging sustainable nutrition behaviours. By the way, Xu, Du, Shen, and Zhang (Reference Xu, Du, Shen and Zhang2022) discovered that four perceived gamification affordances, which are competition, interactivity, self-expression, and autonomy, support psychological ownership and consumer citizenship behaviour and, in particular, a high level of psychological ownership towards gamification encourages these behaviours.

Exploring the field of energy reduction through gamified applications, the study of Mulcahy, Russell-Bennett, and Iacobucci (Reference Mulcahy, Russell-Bennett and Iacobucci2020) reveals that two core elements of success for gamification in sustainability are enjoyment and knowledge sharing. However, scepticism also emerges from scholars’ thoughts. Approaching the binomial corporate social responsibility and gamification, Maltseva, Fieseler, and Trittin-Ulbrich (Reference Maltseva, Fieseler and Trittin-Ulbrich2019) manifest their doubts by explaining that gamification apps often fail to build solid sustainability attitudes in users and how the adoption of gamification practices can reduce the interest of users in products or services. On a different side, an exciting contribution is made by Souza, Marques, and Veríssimo (Reference Souza, Marques and Veríssimo2020), who explore how gamification can help the achievement of the SDGs in the tourism sector. The authors reveal how this approach can be effective, only if well directed toward the main sustainability challenges and following further investments by institutions.

Similarly, Hsu and Chen (Reference Hsu and Chen2021) clarify that gamification use in sustainability must also consider the user attitude and satisfaction related to the platform use. However, the authors also reveal that current literature needs to focus on the behavioural sphere of users to capture the effectiveness of gamification use. At last, it has to be described that a significant gap in the literature is connected to the lack of exploration of the post-gamification processes: often, literature has focused on gamification applications and activities, but little research has explored how the collected information is used (Guillen Mandujano, Quist, & Hamari, Reference Guillen Mandujano, Quist and Hamari2021).

Aiming to understand which innovative use of gamification can be done by SMEs in contributing to the SDGs and to identify which gamification practices are available for Agenda 2030 accountability and contribution, the present research aims to answer the following two research questions:

Define business objectives

The first step relates to defining the goal to be pursued by the gamification process or application. Specifically, concerning the main aim of pursuing the sustainability goals related to Agenda 2030, the broadness of SDGs involvement is a measure of contribution effectiveness (Pizzi et al., Reference Pizzi, Rosati and Venturelli2020c).

Delineate target behaviours

After deciding which goals to pursue, Werbach and Hunter (Reference Werbach and Hunter2012) suggest that a significant challenge is linked to the definition of a set of target actions to be done by users. Specifically, the actions must be aligned with the previously set goals and achievable.

Describe your players

The third goal of the gamification framework links with the players involved. The authors of the framework suggest that such a process requires the acquaintance of the subjects by collecting information on them before the development of a gamified environment.

Devise activity cycles

Focusing attention on the dynamics of gamification, players must be involved in cycles that include motivation for their actions, actions, and feedback. The development of a gamification design needs to provide motivation (e.g., rewards and visibility in the company) which has to link with coherently developed actions. Finally, feedback can close the cycle and motivate the player to participate in new participation.

Do not forget about the fun

One key aspect of gamification is fun. Following Lazzaro (Reference Lazzaro2004), four main types of fun emerge: easy, hard, people, and serious fun. ‘Easy fun’ inspires exploration and role play, while ‘hard fun’ focuses more on goals, constraints, and strategy. People’s fun is a vehicle for creating mechanisms of interaction and teamwork, while ‘serious fun’ changes players’ way of thinking, and it is an effective driver of change in the real world. For the study’s aim, all four fun types are explored.

Deploy appropriate tools

The last step relates to the understanding of the processes. Specifically, to identify which tools have been considered, the pyramid proposed by Werbach and Hunter (Reference Werbach and Hunter2012) that distinguishes components (specific actions), mechanisms (basic processes), and dynamics (big picture elements) are adopted.

In these terms, following the approach proposed by Huber and Röpke (Reference Huber and Röpke2015), the six components of the gamification framework have been used as a reading lens to read ‘AWorld’ gamification solutions and approaches. Coherently to Werbach and Hunter (Reference Werbach and Hunter2012), the six areas of the framework have been linked to the two main research questions.

Define business objectives

To understand the business objectives of the company and the promoted gamification platform, contents of the 17 SDGs have been considered (United Nations, 2015).

First, the commitment to the Agenda 2030 is a key feature of ‘AWorld’. Specifically, looking at the official website homepage, the company clearly states that the main links with the need to create awareness and share knowledge on SDGs and the impact that they can have on everyday life:

In addition, the contribution to Agenda 2030 is realised through the pursuit of two main missions. First, ‘AWorld’ aims to promote impact engagement. This approach sees the first phase of user profiling in which it is possible to identify user habits and the related impact on sustainability. Next, the educational section of the promoted platform is addressed to educating and entertaining users in sustainability learning through the use of the SDG contents:

Finally, the approach ‘engage and reduce’ aims at translating SDGs in users’ everyday life, coherently with their habits.

The second pursued objective relates to the project ‘NetZero’. After the Paris 2015 agreement, ‘AWorld’ focuses on the three areas of the GHGs (GreenHouse Gases) protocol, thus providing a deeper focus on the environmental section of SDGs contribution.

Delineate target behaviours

Connected to the defined two major goals, ‘AWorld’ promotes a series of actions for being accountable while contributing to Agenda 2030 goals through gamification.

“In particular, as the company states, the main goal related to the adoption of the promoted platform is connected to the change of everyday habits of users. To do so, the application that comes with the subscription aims to measure and change people’s behaviour daily:

Moreover, the second relevant behaviour that is being promoted links with accountability practices. Specifically, ‘AWorld’ wants to produce data for measuring the businesses’ contribution to sustainability via SDGs. In addition, the application itself provides teams with the possibility to check how users are behaving and how sustainable they are performing:

Such evidence is particularly relevant since it is possible to identify how this gamification solution carries the mission of promoting users’ more sustainable habits and accountability for companies that aim to contribute to sustainable development. Moreover, as the official website states, ESG metrics and SDG reporting make collected data more usable for externals.

Describe players

The third step of the gamification strategy links to the understanding of the participants and the identification of the features that characterise them. As disclosed on the main website, one key objective of ‘AWorld’ is to engage with all the stakeholders by accompanying them in the achievement of sustainable lifestyles:

However, to promote a more focused and effective strategy, ‘AWorld’ also deepens its attention on core stakeholder categories (Table 1)

Table 1.

Main stakeholders

Source: Our elaboration on https://aworld.org/for-whom/.

Remarkably, a general category of subjects is also included besides the most relevant stakeholders. In particular, as the company states, the versatility of the gamification solution is suitable for engaging users during events while promoting accountability.

Moreover, the analysis of the engaged stakeholders reveals the institutional centrality of ‘AWorld’. Specifically, following Thornton, Ocasio, and Lounsbury’s (Reference Thornton, Ocasio and Lounsbury2013) conception of institutional logic, it emerges how the company is involving multiple actors and related logic for sustainable development, thus, revealing a broad and effective strategy.

At last, the analysis of the ‘participants’ section – which contains non-specific data of testing users and is available from the demo group whose access was made available to the authors – has revealed how eliminating boundaries and participants classification through the use of a single ranking allows users to collect easy-to-access information on team sustainability performances. Specifically, the mobile app allows to see how participants scored concerning the most relevant sustainability fields and track their effort by considering their impacts in terms of reduced emissions and/or water use.

Devise activity cycles

The second part of the analysis relates to understanding the actions and contents being proposed to users. In particular, this section aims to describe how the combination of motivations, actions, and results are impacting users’ experience and desire to use the ‘AWorld’ gamification platform (Huber & Röpke, Reference Huber and Röpke2015).

Concerning the activity cycle, it is possible to identify from the company web disclosure that the three core steps are recognisable in the promoted main steps of the use of the platform (Fig. 3).

Figure 3.

Activity cycles.

Source: Our elaboration on information from https://aworld.org/

It is relevant to engage users in adopting this platform. First, ‘AWorld’ considers the relevance of the current sustainability issues and the increasing awareness of such aspects within people’s life. Specifically, it aims to make users think about their daily habits and create awareness of sustainability impact. This matches with the second motivation, which is related to the education of the users, who are stimulated to increase their knowledge of SDGs and United Nations missions. The community feature and the possibility of pursuing Agenda 2030 with work teams is a social motivation for users.

Do not forget the fun

Being a small business that promotes gamification to achieve Agenda 2030 pursuit, one key element of the platform must concern the deployment of fun activities for users. Using the concept of fun, as described by Lazzaro (Reference Lazzaro2004), a mixture of the four types emerges from the analysis.

First, ‘hard fun’ – identified as the type of fun connected with the creation of emotions such as personal challenge and frustration – is embedded in the gamification feature itself. Specifically, the application of ‘AWorld’ constantly challenges users with personalised challenges and objectives to be pursued in certain periods (Fig. 4).

Figure 4.

The ‘challenge’ feature of ‘AWorld’ app.

Source: https://aworld.org/features/

The second type of fun, recognised as ‘easy fun’, links with a generalised sense of ambiguity, incompleteness, and detail that makes users want to know more about the path they are following. To assure ‘easy fun’, ‘AWorld’ offers a combination of storytelling – to make users increasingly aware of the sustainability world – quizzes, and personal challenges that offer users badges and further progress in their personalised path to better and sustainable habits.

Next, people’s fun appears as a core feature of the entire gamification experience. Specifically, offering the possibility to measure users’ impact compared to their work team provides the occasion to build or enforce workplace relationships. This is possible through the sharing of internal challenges and scores. ‘AWorld’ provides the possibility to join community challenges to promote major goals such as planting trees or establishing bee hives.

Finally, ‘serious fun’ is the most addressed path of fun. Specifically, ‘AWorld’s’ main goal includes not only making the sustainability first approach more enjoyable for people that are new in the field but also aims to change people’s behaviour in everyday life. Such a process is made possible by a set of personalised contents and challenges, along with quizzes, that keep the user engaged in the entire process.

Deploy appropriate tools

The definition of a gamification process is composed of multiple components, mechanisms, and macro-level dynamics. As represented in Fig. 5, ‘AWorld’ considers a set of components to be mixed for the achievement of the main goal. Specifically, it was possible to identify a combination of quizzes, podcasts, achievements, and rewards for the engaged user as the main components of the gamification process. Such components are mixed through challenges that involve single-user participation and team sharing through the community development features. Finally, the collection of the insights, along with the shared scores, create the main picture of the app that both increases awareness of Agenda 2030 while promoting fun.

Figure 5.

Modified pyramid of Huber and Röpke (Reference Huber and Röpke2015).

Data triangulation

To triangulate the data, the ‘AWorld’ organisation gave the authors the possibility to virtually meet the President and CEO to collect more insights on why this company was driven to contribute to Agenda 2030 and how.

As emerged from the encounter, the relevance of sustainability challenges is embedded in the original idea of development. In the words of the President:

This interaction already reveals that small businesses are being impacted by the awareness of sustainability since the very beginning of their activity. However, difficulties emerge when trying to involve new dynamics in users engagement:

Thus, it emerges that, even in the modern technological field, SMEs struggle to have attention from customers on sustainability and, thus, be accountable for it. In this situation – as the interviewee reveals – an idea for a new solution came to their minds with the development of a first alpha edition of ‘AWorld’:

Moreover, approaching sustainability differently and as a vehicle between companies and the Agenda 2030 has given the possibility to create a tool of accountability:

Concerning the usability of the platform itself, the interview confirms the authors’ idea of strong attention to users’ psychological patterns during the development of the gamification process:

Finally, to confirm our idea on the effectiveness of such an approach for accountability in the SMEs field, the President has revealed that strong attention from the market and institutions is coming: