Examining Employee Motivation and Work Culture in the Swedish Video Game Industry
(2021) IBUH19 20211Department of Business Administration
- Abstract
- This paper set out to study the motivators in the working culture of the Swedish video game industry. The video game industry is famous for the scandals around its excessive time regime (crunch). The Swedish video game industry is one of the most prominent game producer regions of the world. It operates in Sweden, a country famous for its work-life balance and labour rights. Therefore, this study intends to get a more profound understanding of motivators and the working culture in the Swedish video game industry to examine whether it has the same culture due to its global operation.
In line with that, the paper has two research questions. 1. What are the drivers and motivators in the working culture, and how do they affect people's... (More) - This paper set out to study the motivators in the working culture of the Swedish video game industry. The video game industry is famous for the scandals around its excessive time regime (crunch). The Swedish video game industry is one of the most prominent game producer regions of the world. It operates in Sweden, a country famous for its work-life balance and labour rights. Therefore, this study intends to get a more profound understanding of motivators and the working culture in the Swedish video game industry to examine whether it has the same culture due to its global operation.
In line with that, the paper has two research questions. 1. What are the drivers and motivators in the working culture, and how do they affect people's decision to stay or leave their jobs/workplace in the Swedish Video Game Industry? and 2. Does the phenomenon of excessive time regimes exist in the work culture in the Swedish video game industry?
The study is exploratory and interpretive. It utilised a semi-structured interview with open-ended questions with ten individuals in roles such as developers, HR managers, business development manager, studio manager and one independent project manager. The data were analysed through flexible thematic analysis.
Firstly, the findings show no evidence for the existence of excessive work time regimes, although there is some indication of its earlier presence in the industry. A possible explanation for it can be found in the inspiring but healthy working culture and the individual's motivations. The Swedish developers are passionate about the field, but they treat it as a job, and they value and pay attention to the healthy work-life balance. Moreover, managers are also responsible for protecting developers from burning out. They ensure that through proper project and client management. The companies themselves provide a friendly and inspiring working environment with flat hierarchy, transparency and equality. The working hours are normalised and regulated with no forced overtime. There is a general "artists first" viewpoint present in the industry. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9059092
- author
- Levin, Viktor LU and Kovács, Orsolya LU
- supervisor
-
- Katja Einola LU
- organization
- course
- IBUH19 20211
- year
- 2021
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- working culture, motivation, crunch, functional stupidity, Sweden, video game
- language
- English
- id
- 9059092
- date added to LUP
- 2021-06-30 10:12:35
- date last changed
- 2021-06-30 10:12:35
@misc{9059092,
abstract = {{This paper set out to study the motivators in the working culture of the Swedish video game industry. The video game industry is famous for the scandals around its excessive time regime (crunch). The Swedish video game industry is one of the most prominent game producer regions of the world. It operates in Sweden, a country famous for its work-life balance and labour rights. Therefore, this study intends to get a more profound understanding of motivators and the working culture in the Swedish video game industry to examine whether it has the same culture due to its global operation.
In line with that, the paper has two research questions. 1. What are the drivers and motivators in the working culture, and how do they affect people's decision to stay or leave their jobs/workplace in the Swedish Video Game Industry? and 2. Does the phenomenon of excessive time regimes exist in the work culture in the Swedish video game industry?
The study is exploratory and interpretive. It utilised a semi-structured interview with open-ended questions with ten individuals in roles such as developers, HR managers, business development manager, studio manager and one independent project manager. The data were analysed through flexible thematic analysis.
Firstly, the findings show no evidence for the existence of excessive work time regimes, although there is some indication of its earlier presence in the industry. A possible explanation for it can be found in the inspiring but healthy working culture and the individual's motivations. The Swedish developers are passionate about the field, but they treat it as a job, and they value and pay attention to the healthy work-life balance. Moreover, managers are also responsible for protecting developers from burning out. They ensure that through proper project and client management. The companies themselves provide a friendly and inspiring working environment with flat hierarchy, transparency and equality. The working hours are normalised and regulated with no forced overtime. There is a general "artists first" viewpoint present in the industry.}},
author = {{Levin, Viktor and Kovács, Orsolya}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Examining Employee Motivation and Work Culture in the Swedish Video Game Industry}},
year = {{2021}},
}