Persuasive technology and user experience design guidelines to motivate users for autonomous learning on a digital learning platform in the context of a corporate environment in South Africa

Persuasive technologies (PT) improve motivation for autonomous learning across digital learning platforms. Despite the potential for supporting learning, the application of PT in the South African corporate organizations' context remains limited. The research problem identified is the lack of users' motivation to self-learn on digital learning platforms. The study is novel in integrating the theoretical lenses of PT and user experience (UX) to investigate the improvement of autonomous learning in a corporate power utility in South Africa. The study reports on the persuasive strategies and UX attributes to be prioritised for motivation in digital learning. The study is guided by design science research (DSR) methodology. The theoretical contribution is the literature-based design guidelines validated by the subject matter experts (SMEs) in focus-groups for motivating users to self-learn on digital learning platforms. The study makes a practical contribution by developing a prototype that incorporates the PT strategies and strives towards meeting usability criteria.