Supplementary file 1_Emotional appraisal in gameful work design: a conceptual framework for divergent employee reactions.docx

Existing research has largely explained these differences in terms of motivation, technology acceptance, or performance outcomes, offering limited insight into why similar features are interpreted differently across employees and contexts. Drawing on cognitive appraisal theory and a bounded integrative evidence base of 52 publications, this conceptual analysis develops an emotional appraisal framework of gameful work design.

The framework analytically distinguishes five interrelated appraisal domains—system characteristics, task design, self-evaluation and identity, social interaction, and organizational meaning—and explains how external design cues acquire supportive or threatening meanings through appraisal. These meanings shape emotional reactions, which may subsequently influence individual, team, and organizational outcomes. Eight propositions translate the framework into domain-focused, cross-pathway, multilevel, and temporal relationships for future testing.