Myth or Reality? Crowdsourcing as a Complex Problem Solving Model: Evidence from Software Developed by the Crowd and Experts
Advisor Information
Deepak Khazanchi
Location
Dr. C.C. and Mabel L. Criss Library
Presentation Type
Poster
Start Date
6-3-2015 9:00 AM
End Date
6-3-2015 10:30 AM
Abstract
A relatively new trend for organizations is to utilize the wisdom and labor of large number of diverse people to solve problems with the help of web mediated technologies, popularly known as “Crowdsourcing”. Crowdsourcing is a problem solving model. However, the crowdsourcing literature shows that there are two competing streams of research which focus on the legitimacy of the crowd’s/customer’s complex problem solving abilities. One stream suggests that collective wisdom may be only useful for the simple problem, and may be difficult to use for complex problems such as software development. The other stream argues that crowds/customers of product and services know about their requirements and are able to contribute towards the development of a product and can solve complex problem. However, this assumption has yet to be tested. The broad goal of this research is to increase our understanding of the crowdsourcing and complex problem solving. This research examine the question - Is crowdsourced software developed to solve complex problems of the same or better quality than developed by experts? Adopting the experimental study approach, this study uses a two-phase process to investigate the research questions. The first phase uses the development of a software by the crowd and experts for a complex task. The second phase uses the quality and user experience as a proxy to compare the success of software developed by crowds and experts. This study contributes to knowledge and practice in several ways. First, this study aims to test whether crowdsourcing is a complex solving model, and the crowdsourced solution is as successful as expert solutions. Second, this study presents a user experience model, which can be used as a tool to assess the quality of crowdsourced solutions by crowdsourcing organizations.
Myth or Reality? Crowdsourcing as a Complex Problem Solving Model: Evidence from Software Developed by the Crowd and Experts
Dr. C.C. and Mabel L. Criss Library
A relatively new trend for organizations is to utilize the wisdom and labor of large number of diverse people to solve problems with the help of web mediated technologies, popularly known as “Crowdsourcing”. Crowdsourcing is a problem solving model. However, the crowdsourcing literature shows that there are two competing streams of research which focus on the legitimacy of the crowd’s/customer’s complex problem solving abilities. One stream suggests that collective wisdom may be only useful for the simple problem, and may be difficult to use for complex problems such as software development. The other stream argues that crowds/customers of product and services know about their requirements and are able to contribute towards the development of a product and can solve complex problem. However, this assumption has yet to be tested. The broad goal of this research is to increase our understanding of the crowdsourcing and complex problem solving. This research examine the question - Is crowdsourced software developed to solve complex problems of the same or better quality than developed by experts? Adopting the experimental study approach, this study uses a two-phase process to investigate the research questions. The first phase uses the development of a software by the crowd and experts for a complex task. The second phase uses the quality and user experience as a proxy to compare the success of software developed by crowds and experts. This study contributes to knowledge and practice in several ways. First, this study aims to test whether crowdsourcing is a complex solving model, and the crowdsourced solution is as successful as expert solutions. Second, this study presents a user experience model, which can be used as a tool to assess the quality of crowdsourced solutions by crowdsourcing organizations.