Scaling ventures through crowdsourcing: Setting the research agenda

There is growing trend towards the use of crowd by organizations for idea generation, finding novel solutions and even financing to scale up new ventures. As a result, the academic discourse on crowdsourcing is on the rise (see Afuah & Tucci, 2012; Lehner, 2013; Jeppensen & Lakahani, 2010) particularly due to some anecdotal evidence of various organizations like Mosaic Inc, Wikipedia, Threadline, and Innocentive. However, for most organizations, crowdsourcing is particularly unfamiliar ground. It requires new thinking, new resources and new capabilities to effectively navigate the creative and unpredictable processes of engaging with the crowd, and manage both high-impact results and risks.
This is also true in the academic literature of crowdsourcing. We find that the body of literature that has been produced is detailed but constricted, often drawing insights within distinct disciplines such as finance, entrepreneurship or marketing.
This paper contributes on three levels: firstly, it provides a comprehensive overview of the literature on crowdsourcing by theorizing different forms of crowdsourcing and subsets that are often used interchangeably. Secondly, by defining the different theoretical constructs related to crowdsourcing, it maps out a research agenda. Lastly, it proposes a classification of crowdsourcing initiatives based on the mode/level of engagement with the crowd.
Finally, by producing a holistic research agenda, this article acts as catalyst for improving the navigation complexity for organizations and scholars alike.

, 2015