Generic crowdsourcing model

Crowdsourcing has several implementation methods and organizations can use it in different ways in their activities. This section sheds light on generic crowdsourcing model (GCM) which can be utilized especially for an organiza-tion’s innovation activities. Crowdsourcing can be categorized based on the im-plementation method and the results of the crowdsourcing activity. Figure 3 illus-trates the GCM.

Figure 3. The GCM (Sivula and Kantola 2016b)

The GCM shows that crowdsourcing can be divided into knowledge, resource and funding focused crowdsourcing activities which can be implemented internally or externally of an organization. An organization should consider which crowdsourcing implementation methods are appropriate for its activities.

Knowledge focused crowdsourcing implementation methods utilize the crowd to create new knowledge about the area in which an organization is interested. This can involve, for example, finding new megatrends or weak signals, or finding ideas for specific market areas. Resource focused crowdsourcing implementation methods are concerned with how the crowd can be utilized as an organization’s resource. This can involve, for example, implementing a project partly or entirely with the crowd.

Funding focused crowdsourcing implementation methods are used for the funding of an organization’s activities. Funding focused crowdsourcing implementation methods provide a major opportunity for micro-, small- and medium-sized organ-izations to fund innovations. Table 3 presents crowdsourcing implementation methods, descriptions, examples of public platforms and examples of implemen-tation methods.

Table 3. GCM implementations (Sivula and Kantola 2016b) Implementation method Description Examples of public platforms using the implementation method Example of implementation method Knowledge focused crowdsourcing (crowdknowledge) Crowd wisdomAn organization employs a crowd to extend its knowledge in terms of crowd wisdom (Hopkins 2011; Howe 2009). Crowd can be employed, for example, to create a new idea ordisperse knowledge inside an organization (Sivula & Kantola 2014b; Sivula & Kantola 2016a).

Community platforms, Dell IdeaStorm and Twitter Product developers utilize crowd wisdom and the crowd participated in the development process of the car Fiat Mio (Solon, 2010). Crowdvoting Crowdvoting can be utilized for organizing large amounts of data (Sivula & Kantola 2014b; Sivula & Kantola 2016a). Crowdvoting can be used, for instance, to vote on the usability of an organization’s new and old products or services (Hammon & Hippner 2012; Howe 2009).

Airbnb, Collaboration platforms generally and IMDb Managers utilize crowdvoting in on an internal collaboration platform to find out organizational core values (Sivula et al. 2014). Crowdevaluation Crowdevaluation is a model for evaluation, for example, of an organization’s products, services or development results in general (Sivula & Kantola 2014b; Sivula & Kantola 2016a). Crowdevaluation can be used, for example, for screening and evaluating new design concepts of new products (Chang & Chen 2015).

Collaboration platforms generally, TrendHunter and TripadvisorManagers measure strategy implementation with crowdevaluation repeatedly sending short surveys to stakeholders or by utilizing a web based collaboration platform (Sivula et al. 2014). Resource focused crowdsourcing (crowdresourcing) Crowd creation The crowd participates in implementing the tasks with the actual producers, such as employees (Geiger et al. 2011). Crowd creation tasks have generally loose definitions and there can be major differences between the qualities which the crowd produces (Sivula & Kantola 2014b; Sivula & Kantola 2016a).

IdeaConnection, TopCoder and Wikipedia Managers utilize crowd creation in a web based programming competition at TopCoder to develop an entirely new software (Lakhani et al. 2010).

Table 3. GCM implementations (Sivula and Kantola 2016b) Implementation method Description Examples of public platforms using the implementation method Example of implementation method Knowledge focused crowdsourcing (crowdknowledge) Crowd wisdomAn organization employs a crowd to extend its knowledge in terms of crowd wisdom (Hopkins 2011; Howe 2009). Crowd can be employed, for example, to create a new idea ordisperse knowledge inside an organization (Sivula & Kantola 2014b; Sivula & Kantola 2016a).

Community platforms, Dell IdeaStorm and Twitter Product developers utilize crowd wisdom and the crowd participated in the development process of the car Fiat Mio (Solon, 2010). Crowdvoting Crowdvoting can be utilized for organizing large amounts of data (Sivula & Kantola 2014b; Sivula & Kantola 2016a). Crowdvoting can be used, for instance, to vote on the usability of an organization’s new and old products or services (Hammon & Hippner 2012; Howe 2009).

Airbnb, Collaboration platforms generally and IMDb Managers utilize crowdvoting in on an internal collaboration platform to find out organizational core values (Sivula et al. 2014). Crowdevaluation Crowdevaluation is a model for evaluation, for example, of an organization’s products, services or development results in general (Sivula & Kantola 2014b; Sivula & Kantola 2016a). Crowdevaluation can be used, for example, for screening and evaluating new design concepts of new products (Chang & Chen 2015).

Collaboration platforms generally, TrendHunter and TripadvisorManagers measure strategy implementation with crowdevaluation repeatedly sending short surveys to stakeholders or by utilizing a web based collaboration platform (Sivula et al. 2014). Resource focused crowdsourcing (crowdresourcing) Crowd creation The crowd participates in implementing the tasks with the actual producers, such as employees (Geiger et al. 2011). Crowd creation tasks have generally loose definitions and there can be major differences between the qualities which the crowd produces (Sivula & Kantola 2014b; Sivula & Kantola 2016a).

IdeaConnection, TopCoder and Wikipedia Managers utilize crowd creation in a web based programming competition at TopCoder to develop an entirely new software (Lakhani et al. 2010).

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rotasking An organization can utilize the crowd to perform microwork which is achieved by the crowd’s individuals (Franklin et al. 2011). Work can be paid or unpaid, but the task is commonly minor and anyone can implement it without any specific professionalism required.

Amazon Mechanical Turk, Clickworker and reCAPTCHABook digitalizers in Google Inc. utilize microtasking to digitalize text books with the crowdsourcing platform reCAPTCHA (Baecher et al. 2011). Macrotasking Macrotasking tasks commonly require special skills and might be precisely targeted (Reid 2013). Macrotasking is beneficial to an organization because the results are wider and more professional than that in microtasking.

99designs, Freelancer and Innocentive Software developers use macrotasking in a Freelancer platform to develop mobile software to meet the needs of an organization (Sivula & Kantola 2014c). Funding focused crowdsourcing (crowdfunding) Crowdfunding of a project With crowdfunding the reward given to the crowd can be monetary or non-monetary (Belleflamme et al. 2013). A crowdfunder could receive, for instance, the product which was developed and financed with crowdfunding. The reward might also be something which is not directly related to the developed product or service.

Indiegogo, Kickstarter and RocketHubManagers utilize Indiegogo to fund their new technology development, for instance, new sensor development (Sivula & Kantola 2016a). An organization is usually sending the developed product to crowdfunders. Crowdfunding of an organizationAn organization gives equity stakes to crowdfunders (Mollick 2014). In general, shares of an organization are given to the crowdfunders who are funding the business, and in this way part of the profits will also go to the funders in the future.

EquityNet, Invesdor and StartUpValley The CEO of a startup company is using a crowdfunding platform like Invesdor to start the activities of a company and provides equity stakes of the company to crowdfunders (Mitra 2012). Crowdfunding as a loan The crowd offers peer-to-peer lending for an organization. The loan is normally small but multiple lenders can raise the amount of money to a high level (Lin & Viswanathan 2014). The interest rates on the loans vary based on the crowdfunding event.

FundingCircle, Funding Tree and ProsperThe CEO of a startup company is utilizing a crowdfunding peer-to- peer lending platform like Funding Tree to provide the necessary loan for a startup company’s activities (Bruton et al. 2015). The startup company provides interest on the loan to the crowdfunders.

An organization should consider which crowdsourcing implementation methods it can utilize in its innovation activities. Crowdsourcing implementation methods can be internal or external to an organization. In general, organizations are using external crowdsourcing and it can be utilized in any size organization. Internal crowdsourcing requires an organization which is large enough to implement in-ternal crowdsourcing activities, for instance, between departments. Moreover, internal crowdsourcing can increase knowledge flow between an organization’s internal functions (Simula and Vuori 2012). Crowdsourcing can be implemented, for example, between departments or offices which are in different countries. This might lead to innovations because of the cultural differences. Thus, all crowdsourcing implementation methods which are presented in Table 3 can also be utilized internally.

Crowdsourcing platforms can be internal or external to an organization. External platforms can be, for instance, social networks or dedicated crowdsourcing plat-forms which are not on an organization’s own servers. Private platplat-forms are on an organization’s own servers and are mostly collaboration-based IT environments (Sivula and Kantola 2014a). An organization should consider which kind of crowdsourcing task is to be used and what the crowd should perform. Based on this consideration an organization can decide which crowdsourcing platform it should utilize to achieve a particular task.