Shkodran Zogaj

An empirical taxonomy of crowdsourcing intermediaries

Due to the recent popularity of crowdfunding, a broad magnitude of crowdfunding intermediaries has emerged, while research on crowdfunding intermediaries has been largely neglected. As a consequence, existing classifications of crowdfunding intermediaries are conceptual, lack theoretical grounding, and are not empirically validated. Thus, we develop an empirical taxonomy of crowdfunding intermediaries, which is grounded in the theories of two-sided markets and financial intermediation. Integrating these theories, we develop a crowdfunding intermediation model that we use as foundation for performing cluster analysis with data of 127 intermediaries. We identify three generic archetypes of crowdfunding intermediaries, which differ in their value proposition: Hedonism, Altruism, and For Profit. Our crowdfunding intermediation model and our empirical taxonomy improve our understanding of crowdfunding by showing how crowdfunding intermediaries manage financial intermediation and digitally transform exchange relations between capital-giving and seeking agents in two-sided online markets. For practice, our research may help characterize the crowdfunding industry.

How to Manage Crowdsourcing Platforms Effectively

To profit from crowdsourcing, organizations can engage in four different approaches: microtasking, information pooling, broadcast search, and open collaboration. This article presents 21 governance mechanisms that can help organizations manage their crowdsourcing platforms. It investigates the effectiveness of these governance mechanisms in 19 case studies and recommends specific configurations of these mechanisms for each of the four crowdsourcing approaches. Also, it offers guidance to organizations that host a crowdsourcing platform by providing recommendations for implementing governance mechanisms into their platforms and building up governance capabilities for crowdsourcing.

Crowdsourcing und Crowd Work – ein Zukunftsmodell der IT-gestützten Arbeitsorganisation?

Das Internet und die damit verbundenen Moglichkeiten haben jegliche Bereiche der Gesellschaft verandert und nachhaltig gepragt. In nahezu allen Bereichen sind digitale Technologien Ausloser und Begleiter neuer Entwicklungen und teilweise radikaler Veranderungen sowohl auf gesamtgesellschaftlicher als auch auf individueller Ebene. Sie haben Einfluss auf unsere Lebens- und Nutzungsgewohnheiten, bieten Losungen fur aktuelle Probleme und eroffnen neue Moglichkeiten (Bundesministerium fur Bildung und Forschung, 2013). Es lasst sich nicht abstreiten, dass das Internet und sonstige digitale Technologien die Art der Arbeit grundlegend verandert haben. Am deutlichsten wird dies bei den sogenannten Digital Natives. Die jungere Generation in Industrielandern wachst von Geburt an mit digitalen Technologien und dem Internet auf – entsprechend anders sind deren Arbeits- und Kommunikationsformen. Leben und Arbeiten sind ohne Digitalisierung nicht vorstellbar und neue Arbeitsformen haben alte ersetzt (Unterberg, 2010).

Not Only for Ideation, But Also for Signaling: Incorporating User-Profile-Webpages into Virtual Ideas Communities

This research-in-progress-paper describes the case of SAPiens, which is a Virtual Ideas Community (VIC). Typically, SAPiens - and VICs in general - focuses solely on supporting the ideation interactions among members. There is evidence from a survey that SAPiens members are also interested in actively signaling competences, experiences and skills to third parties. However, SAPiens does not offer IT functionalities that would allow for such a signaling. Against this backdrop, we propose to enrich SAPiens through User Profile Webpages allowing SAPiens members to construct a public profile within the community and thereby to signal individual capabilities, skills and experiences. The aim of this action design research is to design such an IT artifact by building on the signaling theory. After this initial design, our research constitutes a circular process of constant refinement as well as piloting and evaluation of the IT artifact in the real world setting of the SAPiens VIC.

Towards Open Innovation in Universities: Fostering the Inside-Out-Process Using Ideas Competitions

This paper demonstrates how IT-supported ideas competitions can be implemented within universities. In the context of open innovation, ideas competitions are used as a customer integration method serving companies as a profound basis for the leveraging of innovative ideas within innovation development. However, ideas competitions can also foster the inside-out activities of universities by means of encouraging students to develop innovative ideas which build the basis for the foundation of new businesses. By adopting the theoretical account proposed by Malone et al. (2010) as well as related work on ideas competitions, we comprise the various dimensions regarding the consummation of ideas competitions on university level. We then introduce a case study, which highlights the potentials of ideas competitions within university field. The case study shows that intra-university ideas competitions allow universities to stimulate the creativity of their students as well as to enhance inside-out activities.