Crowdsourcing: A typology and strategic implications

Abstract

Crowdsourcing has recently received a lot of attention from researchers in innovation management. As more and more successful cases of crowdsourcing are accumulated and researches are conducted, a conceptual framework that distinguishes different type of crowdsourcing is needed. In this paper, an attempt is made to fill this gap by focusing on two important strategic dimensions of crowdsourcing: Independence of the project and the relationship among participants. Based on this insight, four distinct types of crowdsourcing models are proposed: 1) open business, 2) independent community, 3) open contest, and 4) dependent community. Then, for each type of crowdsourcing models, managerial and strategic implications that may contribute to the success of respective model are suggested and discussed.