Crowdsourcing for Innovation: Investigating the interaction- and contributor-related characteristics that lead to team success for offline crowdsourcing for innovation

Abstract

Companies increasingly turn to crowdsourcing for innovation, as it allows them to tap into the collective intelligence of the crowd to generate new ideas and solutions more effectively. Not only can this be relevant for the organisation to stay competitive, but also it has the potential to play a significant role in addressing global challenges such as climate change, as the complexity and wickedness of such challenge requires a wide range of perspectives that are not limited to one sector or discipline. It comes then without a surprise that many scholars are interested in what makes these types of events successful in relation to the ideas generated or the real-life impact made. Although the factors that contribute to success are widely researched in the context of online crowdsourcing, research lacks on offline forms of crowdsourcing. Also, whereas most crowdsourcing initiatives revolve around individual contributors solving problems, research about crowdsourcing teams is scarce. In addition, most of those factors in relation to team success are studied in isolation while there are many reasons to believe that these success factors show interdependencies. Therefore, this study aims to fill this gap by focusing on the interplay between contributor- and interaction-related conditions that influence team success. This study applies a deductive configurational design using Qualitative Comparative Analysis, which is inherently suitable for studying interrelationships. The sample consists of 19 crowdsourcing teams that participated in the Circular Challenge, an offline team-based crowdsourcing for innovation event that revolves around commercialising excess waste streams in the context of the circular economy. Structured interviews and self-completion surveys were conducted among representatives of these teams. This was analysed with csQCA. The findings show that contributor-related and interaction-related conditions are important for team success and that crowdsourcing teams can become successful through an internal pathway and through an external pathway. Moreover, it is theorised that interaction-related and contributor-related conditions show a substitutive relationship. This study provided a methodological contribution by confirming the relevance of studying interrelationships within this field. The results provide an avenue for future research through the suggestion that there is an interplay between contributor-related and interaction-related factors. The findings have several practical implications for crowdsourcing organisers and teams participating.