A Process Perspective on Emerging Value in Tournament-based and Collaborative Crowdsourcing

Abstract

Value, in crowdsourcing, is attributed to outcomes such as reducing costs, improving quality through broad participation, generating alternate solutions with increased creativity, and enabling the employment of specialists on an ad-hoc basis. These benefits of crowdsourcing typically reflect the focal firm's perspective and are perceived at a single point in time, either prior to initiating the project or post-hoc. In this study we take a longitudinal and stakeholder-centered approach to examine the process of value (co-)creation through interactions between firm and crowd. We offer a process perspective on emerging value and distinguish between value for firm and value for crowd. In doing so, we close an observed gap in the literature which lacks an overarching understanding of crowdsourcing value creation.

Investigating Value Co-creation in Crowdsourcing: The Revelatory Case of the Shield

“…In a crowdsourcing initiative, the crowdsourcer is the decision maker who decides to crowdsource. Scholars reveal some common motivations to crowdsource, including problem-solving, innovation, marketing excellence, and cost reduction [35][36][37][38]. The crowd consists of a group of individuals who may voluntarily undertake the crowdsourced task.…”

“…The co-created value in a crowdsourcing project is discussed from multiple stakeholders' perspectives. As revealed by He et al [36], stakeholders may expect different value before their engagement, experience diverse emergent value during the engagement, and realize distinct value after their engagement. From the crowdsourcer's perspective, whether the realized value meets the expectation is significant [35].…”

“…From the crowdsourcer's perspective, whether the realized value meets the expectation is significant [35]. From the crowd's perspective, while not all individuals are financially rewarded in most crowdsourcing applications, intrinsic value plays a crucial role to compensate [5,36]. However, because individuals usually possess weak bargaining power, the engagement is criticized for exploitation if they are not adequately compensated [50].…”

A Typology of Crowd Configurations Based on Crowd Attributes and Their Impacts on Crowdsourcing Outcomes

“…The number of accessed individuals matters because it reflects the scope of marketing. A crowdsourcer can also establish and maintain relationships with individuals in a crowd [26], [58]. Individuals' engagement is significant as it can reflect the closeness of established relationships.…”