Governance considerations for seeker–solver relationships: a knowledge‐based perspective in crowdsourcing for innovation contests

Piazza, M., Mazzola, E., Acur, N. and Perrone, G. (2019) Governance considerations for seeker–solver relationships: a knowledge‐based perspective in crowdsourcing for innovation contests. British Journal of Management, 30(4), pp. 810-828. (doi: 10.1111/1467-8551.12327)

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Abstract

The need to solve innovation problems and insource knowledge has led to an increasing number of organizations engaging in crowdsourcing activities and subsequently establishing working relationships with winning solution providers. Using a knowledge‐based view and the problem‐solving perspective, we develop a theoretical framework suggesting how specific innovation problem attributes (i.e. the decomposability, formulation and search space of the problem) influence the governance decision (unilateral vs. bilateral) of seekers to manage the relationship with winning solvers. We empirically analyse the framework using 582 challenges broadcast on the NineSigma crowdsourcing platform. Our results indicate that problem attributes – the formulation and search space of the problem – have a positive effect on seekers’ preference towards unilateral governance structures. However, we did not find any empirical confirmation of the effect that the decomposability of the innovation problem has on seekers’ preference towards unilateral governance structures. This study offers several contributions to the crowdsourcing literature, and also has important implications for managers of organizations aiming to insource knowledge through crowdsourcing for innovation contests.

Item Type:Articles
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Piazza, Mariangela and Mazzola, Dr Erica and Acur, Professor Nuran
Authors: Piazza, M., Mazzola, E., Acur, N., and Perrone, G.
College/School:College of Social Sciences
College of Social Sciences > Adam Smith Business School > Management
Journal Name:British Journal of Management
Publisher:Wiley
ISSN:1045-3172
ISSN (Online):1467-8551
Published Online:05 February 2019
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2019 British Academy of Management
First Published:First published in British Journal of Management 30(4): 810-828
Publisher Policy:Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher

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