Finding the diamond in the rough: Exploring communication and platform in crowdsourcing performance

ABSTRACT

Ideas that rise to the top in crowdsourcing platforms are assumed to succeed because they are perceived to be the best ideas, but questions about the factors that influence the outperformance of one solution over another remain underexplored. The Peer Vetted Ideas model is proposed as an explanation of elements that affect performance in crowdsourcing for creative ideation solutions. Using content analysis and hierarchical multiple regression, the study examined the relationship between performance in a public sector crowdsourcing competition and (a) design concepts, (b) communication about the designs, and (c) platform context. Results indicate that crowdsourcing is not always a meritocratic process to produce the objective “best” ideas, but rather also depends on subjective communicative, temporal, and platform factors.

KEYWORDS:

• Crowdsourcing
• organizational communication
• narrative
• Peer Vetted Ideas model
• peer-vetted creative production
• design
• performance

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for helpful comments from Dr Timothy J. Biblarz, Dr Andrea B. Hollingshead, and the journal editor and reviewers, as well as management of the design submission database by Michael Davie. An earlier version of this research was presented at the 65th annual conference of the International Communication Association in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 This study builds from Brabham’s definition and typology of crowdsourcing. For the sake of clarity and consistency, this study uses Brabham’s preferred term of “online community” to describe those who participate in crowdsourcing. This does not imply that these groups of participants always function as a community per se. Some crowdsourcing cases indeed have robust online communities with individuals who communicate regularly with one another and have various social norms and a group identity, but many crowdsourcing cases do not foster community among participants and individuals engage only with the platform and not with other users on the site.

2 Table 1 can be accessed online here: http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15799coll84/id/3863

3 Table 2 can be accessed online here: http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15799coll84/id/3863

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported in part by a grant from the U.S. Federal Transit Administration [grant #2008-DOT-FTA-PTPP].