Prashant Shukla

J. Prpic, P. Shukla, Y. Roth et al.

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.

J. Prpic, P. P. Shukla, J. H. Kietzmann et al.

Traditionally, the term crowd was used almost exclusively in the context of people who self-organized around a common purpose, emotion or experience. Today, however, firms often refer to crowds in discussions of how collections of individuals can be engaged for organizational purposes. Crowdsourcing, the use of information technologies to outsource business responsibilities to crowds, can now significantly influence a firms ability to leverage previously unattainable resources to build competitive advantage. Nonetheless, many managers are hesitant to consider crowdsourcing because they do not understand how its various types can add value to the firm. In response, we explain what crowdsourcing is, the advantages it offers and how firms can pursue crowdsourcing. We begin by formulating a crowdsourcing typology and show how its four categories (crowd-voting, micro-task, idea and solution crowdsourcing) can help firms develop crowd capital, an organizational-level resource harnessed from the crowd. We then present a three-step process model for generating crowd capital. Step one includes important considerations that shape how a crowd is to be constructed. Step two outlines the capabilities firms need to develop to acquire and assimilate resources (knowledge, labor, funds) from the crowd. Step three addresses key decision-areas that executives need to address to effectively engage crowds.

J. Prpic, P. Shukla

To begin to understand the implications of the implementation of IT-mediated Crowds for Politics and Policy purposes, this research builds the first-known dataset of IT-mediated Crowd applications currently in use in the governance context. Using Crowd Capital theory and governance theory as frameworks to organize our data collection, we undertake an exploratory data analysis of some fundamental factors defining this emerging field. Specific factors outlined and discussed include the type of actors implementing IT-mediated Crowds in the governance context, the global geographic distribution of the applications, and the nature of the Crowd-derived resources being generated for governance purposes. The findings from our dataset of 209 on-going endeavours indicates that a wide-diversity of actors are engaging IT-mediated Crowds in the governance context, both jointly and severally, that these endeavours can be found to exist on all continents, and that said actors are generating Crowd-derived resources in at least ten distinct governance sectors. We discuss the ramifications of these and our other findings in comparison to the research literature on the private-sector use of IT-mediated Crowds, while highlighting some unique future research opportunities stemming from our work.