Enhancing Business Accounting Student Performance through Gamified Learning

Accounting is widely regarded as a complex subject, and traditional teaching methods often fail to fully engage students or enhance learning outcomes. This study investigates the effectiveness of gamification and vocational programmes as pedagogical approaches to improve student engagement and academic performance in accounting education. A quantitative research design was employed, with primary data collected from 254 undergraduate and postgraduate students enrolled in accounting and vocational accounting programmes across India. Measurement scales were adapted from validated studies, and Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was applied using SmartPLS 4.0 to test the proposed hypotheses. The results indicate that gamification has a significant positive effect on student engagement (β = 0.683, p < 0.001) but does not directly influence academic performance (β = 0.017, p = 0.448). Conversely, vocational programmes positively affect both engagement (β = 0.264, p = 0.014) and academic performance (β = 0.903, p < 0.001). These findings suggest that while gamified interventions enhance motivation, participation, and collaboration, practical and skill-based vocational training is essential for improving measurable learning outcomes. This study contributes to the accounting education literature by demonstrating the complementary roles of gamification and vocational programmes, emphasizing the importance of integrating motivational and performance-oriented pedagogical strategies. For educators and curriculum designers, combining gamified learning with vocationally oriented activities offers a promising approach to increase engagement, reinforce conceptual understanding, and prepare students for real-world professional challenges. The study also provides implications for curriculum design, policy development, and future research on hybrid pedagogical models.