Gamification for ethics literacy: A systematic review and future agenda

Abstract

As a cornerstone of global citizenship, ethics literacy is widely recognized as a key 21st-century skill, serving as a fundamental “bridge” between responsible daily decision-making and the pragmatic pursuit of sustainable development. Though ethics can be taught, traditional methods rarely provide the immersive engagement needed for a deep understanding of abstract phenomena. In contrast, gamification has been recognized as a promising approach for experiential pedagogy. However, despite growing interest in serious games, simulations, and game-based learning, research on the use of gamification for ethics education remains fragmented, with no comprehensive synthesis of its outcomes or impact on ethics literacy to date. To address this gap, we conducted a systematic review of 161 empirical studies. Synthesized findings reveal that the current research corpus on gamification for ethics literacy employs diverse methods, relies heavily on student samples from developed countries, centers on business and engineering contexts, draws primarily on cognition-oriented theories, and favors digital interventions. While studies generally report positive effects on both lower- and higher-order thinking as well as ethical judgment and sensitivity, they also reveal weak experimental rigor, limited longitudinal, real-time, and multimodal data, restricted participant diversity, and insufficient consideration of contextual, cultural, motivational, and behavioral factors. In addition, the field underuses emerging technologies, lacks nuanced analysis of game elements and collaborative dynamics, especially in digital formats, and often depends on scripted mechanics that constrain authentic decision-making, thereby limiting personalization and autonomy. Based on the results, 16 key future research directions are proposed across thematic, theoretical, and methodological dimensions.