Using Serious Games for Learning Business Ethics: Exploring Its Socio-technical Enablers and Cross-cultural Influences

This article investigates the impact of socio-technical and cultural factors on business management students’ learning of ethical skills in a serious gaming environment. A survey study (n = 302) was conducted with participants from two British universities. SEM (structural equation modeling) was used to test the empirical model, and the results of this study show that technical enablers and social enablers impact learners’ performance and perception of serious games as pedagogically effective learning tools. Additionally, we observe cultural differences in learners’ conative behavior toward serious games when learners are drawn from Anglo and Confucian cultures, high-performance and low-performance orientation cultures, and emotionally oriented shame and guilt cultures. By applying and extending the socio-technical theory of information systems to a serious gaming environment, this article has identified some key social-technical and cultural enablers that can influence and facilitate the adoption of serious games as an effective practice-based learning or training instrument.