With the rate of urbanization, environmental problems and increasing energy consumption, moving toward smart solutions to address complex urban issues is essential. For the development of a smart city, citizens’ behavior and culture need to change in line with technological advances and citizens need to receive the necessary training to accept related technologies. In this regard, smart and gamified education is an attractive phenomenon that allows users the opportunity to better understand and interact with their environment. This study aims to evaluate the impact of training and using gamification in changing citizens’ behavior and teaching the basics of a smart city.
Using a quasi-experimental framework, 129 business students were used as participants and potential future executives. They were divided into two experimental groups and one control group.
Comparing the results of the control group and experimental groups showed that conducting the training course was effective in influencing civic behavior change. The group that underwent gamification-based training also had a significant difference compared to traditional training and the control group in five behavioral variables. The results of this study indicate that urban policymakers and smart city developers can familiarize citizens with technological advances in smart cities by designing suitable games and paving the way for changes on a macro level.
The scientific contribution of this study is to compare the effectiveness of a gamification-based training course versus a traditional training course in smart city citizens’ behavior based on empirical data.
