School of business - research
Crowdsourcing: From madness to wisdom
Once derided as feeding investment bubbles like the Dutch tulip mania of the 17th century, crowds are now relied upon to come up with new ideas as part of crowdsourced initiatives aimed at fostering creativity. But as snarky comments and negative feedback accumulate, how can people with ideas be convinced to express themselves freely?
Crowdsourcing’s ability to accelerate the discovery and development of ideas by harnessing the power of collective wisdom to solve problems is widely accepted. Even major firms like Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, IBM and Starbucks have developed communities of “ideators” to enlist their customers in co-creating, developing and implementing new experiences for their brands. In “What Feedback Matters? The Role of Experience in Motivating Crowdsourcing Innovation” , researchers explore what firms can do to make the most of crowdsourcing.
Investigating the way unpaid participants contribute their ideas in crowdsourcing communities sponsored by firms, the researchers demonstrate that the level of experience of ideators is key for crowdsourcing to work. Not surprisingly, people participating in crowdsourcing are sensitive to feedback, especially when it’s negative. However, experienced ideators – in addition to being extra motivated by positive feedback – are also able to brush off negative comments, even when such negative comments are delivered by representatives of the organisation sponsoring the crowdsourcing activity.
Given this insight, firms keen to get good ideas from crowdsourcing should rethink the way they treat participants. Since newcomers are more sensitive to negative feedback while “pros” react well to positive comments by peers and –when given by firms – constructive criticisms, organisations hosting crowdsourcing communities should plan how, what, and to whom they deliver feedback.
Firms should also ensure that participants don’t simply criticize others, especially when it comes to newcomers or inactive members with little idea-posting experience. By nurturing a culture of supportive interactions, firms will help support experienced ideators who crave social proof and positive peer recognition without losing newer members who may eventually try to contribute too. Firms should also use IT-enabled social integration tools such as expert finders, knowledge maps and user profile systems to improve the culture and overall users experience of their crowdsourcing communities.
Findings also suggest that instead of promoting opportunities to give as a way to quickly increase the number of ideators or ideas submitted by participants, firms should emphasise feedback quality since uninformative comments will demotivate participants. Finally, firms eager to sift out “good” ideas from “bad” ones, might consider using crowd-voted scores or judge-coded ratings to identify ideas likely to reflect what their customers want to see.
When it comes to crowds, perhaps the trick is to not so much to follow them as it is to hear the unique voices that emerge from the noise!
Reference:
Chan, K., Li, S., Ni, J., & Zhu, J. (2021). What Feedback Matters? The Role of Experience in Motivating Crowdsourcing Innovation. Production and Operations Management, 30(1), 103-126.