A Geography of Participation in IT-Mediated Crowds
📝 Abstract
In this work we seek to understand how differences in location affect participation outcomes in IT-mediated crowds. To do so, we operationalize Crowd Capital Theory with data from a popular international creative crowdsourcing site, to determine whether regional differences exist in crowdsourcing participation outcomes. We present the early results of our investigation from data encompassing 1,858,202 observations from 28,214 crowd members on 94 different projects in 2012. Using probit regressions to isolate geographic effects by continental region, we find significant variation across regions in crowdsourcing participation. In doing so, we contribute to the literature by illustrating that geography matters in respect to crowd participation. Further, our work illustrates an initial validation of Crowd Capital Theory as a useful theoretical model to guide empirical inquiry in the fast-growing domain of IT-mediated crowds.
💡 Analysis
In this work we seek to understand how differences in location affect participation outcomes in IT-mediated crowds. To do so, we operationalize Crowd Capital Theory with data from a popular international creative crowdsourcing site, to determine whether regional differences exist in crowdsourcing participation outcomes. We present the early results of our investigation from data encompassing 1,858,202 observations from 28,214 crowd members on 94 different projects in 2012. Using probit regressions to isolate geographic effects by continental region, we find significant variation across regions in crowdsourcing participation. In doing so, we contribute to the literature by illustrating that geography matters in respect to crowd participation. Further, our work illustrates an initial validation of Crowd Capital Theory as a useful theoretical model to guide empirical inquiry in the fast-growing domain of IT-mediated crowds.
📄 Content
A Geography of Participation in IT-Mediated Crowds
John Prpić
Prashant Shukla
Yannig Roth
Beedie School of Business, Beedie School of Business, Université Paris 1 Panthéon
Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University Sorbonne (PRISM)
Rotman School of Management,
yannigroth@gmail.com
University of Toronto
pshukla@sfu.ca
Jean-François Lemoine
ESSCA Ecole de Management
Université Paris 1 Panthéon
Sorbonne (PRISM)
jflemoine30@hotmail.com
Abstract
In this work we seek to understand how differences in location effect participation outcomes in IT- mediated crowds. To do so, we operationalize Crowd Capital Theory with data from a popular international creative crowdsourcing site, to determine whether regional differences exist in crowdsourcing participation outcomes. We present the results of our investigation from data encompassing 1,858,202 observations from 28,214 crowd members on 94 different projects in 2012. Using probit regressions to isolate geographic effects by continental region, we find significant variation across regions in crowdsourcing participation. In doing so, we contribute to the literature by illustrating that geography matters in respect to crowd participation. Further, our work illustrates an initial validation of Crowd Capital Theory as a useful theoretical model to guide empirical inquiry in the fast-growing domain of IT-mediated crowds.
- Introduction
Crowdsourcing, a term popularized by Wired magazine contributor Jeff Howe [1, 2], involves organizations using IT to engage crowds of individuals for the purposes of completing tasks, solving problems, or generating ideas. In the last decade, many organizations have turned to crowdsourcing to engage with consumers, accelerate their innovation cycles, and to find new ideas for their brands [3, 4, 5]. As crowdsourcing has become an increasingly common method for organizations to gather IT-mediated input from individuals, the importance of understanding the nature of crowds has similarly increased. While many sing the praises of the global distribution of crowd participants at crowdsourcing platforms like eYeka, TopCoder, and Tongal, research has yet to emerge that empirically investigates the role of crowd member geography on crowdsourcing participation.
To achieve these aims we bound our investigation using Crowd Capital Theory (CCT) as our theoretical framework, which draws upon the knowledge-based view of organizations to explain how and why IT- mediated crowds can generate value for organizations [6]. In this study, we operationalize CCT with data provided to us by a leading global crowdsourcing platform which hosts crowdsourcing contests on behalf of major corporations. These contests are visible to anyone with internet access, and participation is free and open to all internet users. Therefore, the empirical context is very well-suited for our inquiry into the geography of Crowd Capital participation.
In the ensuing sections of this work we undertake this research design by first reviewing the crowdsourcing literature to establish the empirical context. Then, we introduce Crowd Capital Theory (CCT), establishing the theoretical motivation for our investigation, bounding our hypothesis, and structuring our data operationalizations. From here we introduce our research methods, detailing the data collection and data analysis undertaken, before establishing our findings. We then discuss the ramifications of our findings for both the research and practitioner communities, before concluding with a set of new research questions emanating directly from our work.
- Crowdsourcing
Crowdsourcing is an IT-mediated problem solving, idea-generation, and production model that leverages distributed intelligence [7]. Problem-solving, idea- generation and production can be “crowd-sourced” by different means [8] such as micro-tasking (asking individuals to execute short tasks online for pay at virtual labor markets), open collaboration (asking individuals to volunteer contributions online) or through tournament-based competitions (where individuals submit contributions with the hope of winning a prize). The latter approach is increasingly used in the fields of innovation and marketing, as companies are posting their challenges through broadcast search on crowdsourcing platforms like eYeka, InnoCentive, Kaggle, Tongal or Topcoder, to access the crowds of motivated and skilled participants that have coalesced at these web properties.
2.1 Crowdsourcing in Use
Even though crowdsourcing is a very recent phenomenon, the process has been used in a variety of contexts. Companies can launch crowdsourcing
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