I think it truly can, but when the incentive isn't there, people often see no point in it. I resent patronizing gameification where people bolt some nominal gamed system onto a horrible job and call it a day as if it was just a question of perspective. That completely undermines the huge efforts invested into making games engaging.
That said, if you can engender a feeling of competition and make people feel like they're achieving something, I think it can work.
I think skinner boxes like Genshin Impact demonstrate how people can be motivated to go to great lengths for nothing. Just because you don't doesn't mean that the phenomenon is invalid.