IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/tefoso/v176y2022ics0040162522000051.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How can I signal my quality to emerge from the crowd? A study in the crowdsourcing context

Author

Listed:
  • Piazza, Mariangela
  • Mazzola, Erica
  • Perrone, Giovanni

Abstract

Crowdsourcing contests are characterized by an intensive level of competition because of the extensive number of solvers that voluntarily self-select to participate in such contests. This study aims at understanding how solvers can signal their quality attributes through the community functionalities, i.e. the online profile and the discussion blog of the crowdsourcing platform, to improve their chances of winning crowdsourcing contests. Drawing on signaling theory, we hypothesize that signaling their skills and capabilities by crafting profiles rich in personal and professional information and by participating actively within the discussion blog by posting and commenting, solvers can influence their success in crowdsourcing contests. To empirically test the developed hypotheses, we built an ad-hoc dataset based on a sample of 2479 solvers within the community of the 99designs crowdsourcing platform. We found that crafting a detailed and informative profile has a positive impact on the success of solvers. Moreover, our results highlight a curvilinear relationship between the solvers posting and commenting activity within the discussion blog and their success. The results of this study offer important contributions to previous crowdsourcing literature and provide critical implications for solvers, seekers and contest organizers of crowdsourcing contests.

Suggested Citation

  • Piazza, Mariangela & Mazzola, Erica & Perrone, Giovanni, 2022. "How can I signal my quality to emerge from the crowd? A study in the crowdsourcing context," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:tefoso:v:176:y:2022:i:c:s0040162522000051
    DOI: 10.1016/j.techfore.2022.121473
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040162522000051
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.techfore.2022.121473?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Foege, J. Nils & Lauritzen, Ghita Dragsdahl & Tietze, Frank & Salge, Torsten Oliver, 2019. "Reconceptualizing the paradox of openness: How solvers navigate sharing-protecting tensions in crowdsourcing," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(6), pages 1323-1339.
    2. Steils, Nadia & Hanine, Salwa, 2019. "Recruiting valuable participants in online IDEA generation: The role of brief instructions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 14-25.
    3. Donald D. Bergh & Brian L. Connelly & David J. Ketchen Jr & Lu M. Shannon, 2014. "Signalling Theory and Equilibrium in Strategic Management Research: An Assessment and a Research Agenda," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(8), pages 1334-1360, December.
    4. Michael Spence, 2002. "Signaling in Retrospect and the Informational Structure of Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(3), pages 434-459, June.
    5. Garcia Martinez, Marian, 2015. "Solver engagement in knowledge sharing in crowdsourcing communities: Exploring the link to creativity," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(8), pages 1419-1430.
    6. Chandler, Dana & Kapelner, Adam, 2013. "Breaking monotony with meaning: Motivation in crowdsourcing markets," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 123-133.
    7. M. C. Guardo & K. R. Harrigan, 2016. "Shaping the path to inventive activity: the role of past experience in R&D alliances," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 41(2), pages 250-269, April.
    8. William Ocasio, 2011. "Attention to Attention," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(5), pages 1286-1296, October.
    9. Jo Thori Lind & Halvor Mehlum, 2010. "With or Without U? The Appropriate Test for a U‐Shaped Relationship," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 72(1), pages 109-118, February.
    10. Ernst Fehr & Simon Gächter, 2002. "Altruistic punishment in humans," Nature, Nature, vol. 415(6868), pages 137-140, January.
    11. Chan, Kimmy Wa & Li, Stella Yiyan & Zhu, John Jianjun, 2015. "Fostering Customer Ideation in Crowdsourcing Community: The Role of Peer-to-peer and Peer-to-firm Interactions," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 42-62.
    12. Yili Hong & Paul A. Pavlou, 2017. "On Buyer Selection of Service Providers in Online Outsourcing Platforms for IT Services," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 28(3), pages 547-562, September.
    13. Julien Pénin & Thierry Burger-Helmchen, 2011. "Crowdsourcing of inventive activities," Post-Print hal-02302862, HAL.
    14. Samer Faraj & Steven L. Johnson, 2011. "Network Exchange Patterns in Online Communities," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(6), pages 1464-1480, December.
    15. Bharat N. Anand & Tarun Khanna, 2000. "Do firms learn to create value? The case of alliances," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(3), pages 295-315, March.
    16. Labrecque, Lauren I. & Markos, Ereni & Milne, George R., 2011. "Online Personal Branding: Processes, Challenges, and Implications," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 37-50.
    17. de Beer, Jeremy & McCarthy, Ian P. & Soliman, Adam & Treen, Emily, 2017. "Click here to agree: Managing intellectual property when crowdsourcing solutions," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 60(2), pages 207-217.
    18. Julien Pénin & Thierry Burger-Helmchen, 2011. "Crowdsourcing of inventive activities: definition and limits," International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 5(2/3), pages 246-263.
    19. Chan, Kimmy Wa & Li, Stella Yiyan & Zhu, John Jianjun, 2018. "Good to Be Novel? Understanding How Idea Feasibility Affects Idea Adoption Decision Making in Crowdsourcing," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 52-68.
    20. Schmidt, Gordon B. & Jettinghoff, William M., 2016. "Using Amazon Mechanical Turk and other compensated crowdsourcing sites," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 59(4), pages 391-400.
    21. Djawadi, Behnud Mir & Fahr, René, 2015. "“…and they are really lying”: Clean evidence on the pervasiveness of cheating in professional contexts from a field experiment," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 48-59.
    22. Natalicchio, A. & Messeni Petruzzelli, A. & Garavelli, A.C., 2017. "Innovation problems and search for solutions in crowdsourcing platforms – A simulation approach," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 64, pages 28-42.
    23. Ogink, Timko & Dong, John Qi, 2019. "Stimulating innovation by user feedback on social media: The case of an online user innovation community," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 295-302.
    24. Nadia Steils & Salwa Hanine, 2019. "Recruiting valuable participants in online IDEA generation: The role of brief instructions," Post-Print hal-02117668, HAL.
    25. Jeffrey T. Macher & Christopher Boerner, 2012. "Technological development at the boundaries of the firm: a knowledge‐based examination in drug development," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(9), pages 1016-1036, September.
    26. Pemer, Frida & Skjølsvik, Tale, 2019. "The cues that matter: Screening for quality signals in the ex ante phase of buying professional services," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 352-365.
    27. Fisch, Christian, 2019. "Initial coin offerings (ICOs) to finance new ventures," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 1-22.
    28. Acar, Oguz A., 2019. "Motivations and solution appropriateness in crowdsourcing challenges for innovation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(8), pages 1-1.
    29. Hangzi Zhu & Katharina Djurjagina & Jens Leker, 2014. "Innovative Behaviour Types And Their Influence On Individual Crowdsourcing Performances," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 18(06), pages 1-18.
    30. Jascha-Alexander Koch & Michael Siering, 2019. "The recipe of successful crowdfunding campaigns," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 29(4), pages 661-679, December.
    31. Marios Kokkodis & Panagiotis G. Ipeirotis, 2016. "Reputation Transferability in Online Labor Markets," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(6), pages 1687-1706, June.
    32. Thomas Clauss & Robert J. Breitenecker & Sascha Kraus & Alexander Brem & Chris Richter, 2018. "Directing the wisdom of the crowd: the importance of social interaction among founders and the crowd during crowdfunding campaigns," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(8), pages 709-729, November.
    33. Prashant Kale & Harbir Singh, 2007. "Building firm capabilities through learning: the role of the alliance learning process in alliance capability and firm‐level alliance success," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(10), pages 981-1000, October.
    34. Emilie Ruiz & Sébastien Brion & Guy Parmentier, 2020. "Absorbing knowledge in the digital age: the key role of integration mechanisms in the context of crowdsourcing for innovation," Post-Print hal-01935104, HAL.
    35. repec:eee:respol:v:48:y:2019:i:8:p:- is not listed on IDEAS
    36. Mariangela Piazza & Erica Mazzola & Lorenzo Abbate & Giovanni Perrone, 2019. "Network position and innovation capability in the regional innovation network," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(9), pages 1857-1878, September.
    37. Pollok, Patrick & Lüttgens, Dirk & Piller, Frank T., 2019. "Attracting solutions in crowdsourcing contests: The role of knowledge distance, identity disclosure, and seeker status," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 98-114.
    38. Bogers, Marcel & Foss, Nicolai J. & Lyngsie, Jacob, 2018. "The “human side” of open innovation: The role of employee diversity in firm-level openness," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 218-231.
    39. Schemmann, Brita & Herrmann, Andrea M. & Chappin, Maryse M.H. & Heimeriks, Gaston J., 2016. "Crowdsourcing ideas: Involving ordinary users in the ideation phase of new product development," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(6), pages 1145-1154.
    40. Christopher Courtney & Supradeep Dutta & Yong Li, 2017. "Resolving Information Asymmetry: Signaling, Endorsement, and Crowdfunding Success," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 41(2), pages 265-290, March.
    41. Garcia Martinez, Marian, 2017. "Inspiring crowdsourcing communities to create novel solutions: Competition design and the mediating role of trust," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 296-304.
    42. Julia Bauer & Nikolaus Franke & Philipp Tuertscher, 2016. "Intellectual Property Norms in Online Communities: How User-Organized Intellectual Property Regulation Supports Innovation," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 27(4), pages 724-750, December.
    43. Pera, Rebecca & Viglia, Giampaolo & Furlan, Roberto, 2016. "Who Am I? How Compelling Self-storytelling Builds Digital Personal Reputation," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 44-55.
    44. Steven Tadelis, 2016. "Reputation and Feedback Systems in Online Platform Markets," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 8(1), pages 321-340, October.
    45. Michael Spence, 1973. "Job Market Signaling," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 87(3), pages 355-374.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kraus, Sascha & Kumar, Satish & Lim, Weng Marc & Kaur, Jaspreet & Sharma, Anuj & Schiavone, Francesco, 2023. "From moon landing to metaverse: Tracing the evolution of Technological Forecasting and Social Change," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    2. Laurent Antonczak & Thierry Burger-Helmchen, 2022. "Creativity on the Move: Nexus of Technology, Slack and Social Complexities," Post-Print hal-03631857, HAL.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Liao, Junyun & Chen, Jiawen & Mou, Jian, 2021. "Examining the antecedents of idea contribution in online innovation communities: A perspective of creative self-efficacy," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    2. Fu, Shihui & Sun, Yi & Gao, Xue, 2022. "Balancing openness and control to improve the performance of crowdsourcing contests for product innovation: A configurational perspective," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    3. Francesco Cappa & Federica Rosso & Darren Hayes, 2019. "Monetary and Social Rewards for Crowdsourcing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-14, May.
    4. Cappa, Francesco & Oriani, Raffaele & Pinelli, Michele & De Massis, Alfredo, 2019. "When does crowdsourcing benefit firm stock market performance?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(9), pages 1-1.
    5. Nguyen, Phong Thanh & Nguyen, Linh Thi My, 2022. "Understanding platform market value through decentralization governance — An integrative model from signaling and mechanism design theory," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    6. Simon Kleinert, 2024. "The Promise of New Ventures’ Growth Ambitions in Early-Stage Funding: On the Crossroads between Cheap Talk and Credible Signals," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 48(1), pages 274-309, January.
    7. Shi, Xiaoxiao & Evans, Richard & Shan, Wei, 2022. "Solver engagement in online crowdsourcing communities: The roles of perceived interactivity, relationship quality and psychological ownership," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    8. Ren, Jie & Han, Yue & Genc, Yegin & Yeoh, William & Popovič, Aleš, 2021. "The boundary of crowdsourcing in the domain of creativity✰," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    9. Xu, Hui & Wu, Yang & Hamari, Juho, 2022. "What determines the successfulness of a crowdsourcing campaign: A study on the relationships between indicators of trustworthiness, popularity, and success," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 484-495.
    10. Salgado, Stéphane & Hemonnet-Goujot, Aurelie & Henard, David H. & de Barnier, Virginie, 2020. "The dynamics of innovation contest experience: An integrated framework from the customer’s perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 29-43.
    11. Lamotte, Olivier & Chalençon, Ludivine & Mayrhofer, Ulrike & Colovic, Ana, 2021. "Intangible resources and cross-border acquisition decisions: The impact of reputation and the moderating effect of experiential knowledge," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 297-310.
    12. Maurer, Joshua D. & Creek, Steven A. & Allison, Thomas H. & Bendickson, Joshua S. & Sahaym, Arvin, 2023. "Affiliation rhetoric and digital orientation in crowdfunding appeals," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    13. Feng, Yuanyue & Yi, Zihui & Yang, Congcong & Chen, Ruoyi & Feng, Ye, 2022. "How do gamification mechanics drive solvers’ Knowledge contribution? A study of collaborative knowledge crowdsourcing," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    14. Janina Sundermeier & Tyge-F. Kummer, 2022. "Does personality still matter in e-commerce? How perceived hubris influences the assessment of founders’ trustworthiness using the example of reward-based crowdfunding," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 32(3), pages 1127-1144, September.
    15. Norbert Steigenberger & Hendrik Wilhelm, 2018. "Extending Signaling Theory to Rhetorical Signals: Evidence from Crowdfunding," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(3), pages 529-546, June.
    16. Anglin, Aaron H. & Short, Jeremy C. & Drover, Will & Stevenson, Regan M. & McKenny, Aaron F. & Allison, Thomas H., 2018. "The power of positivity? The influence of positive psychological capital language on crowdfunding performance," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 470-492.
    17. Mourelatos, Evangelos, 2021. "Personality and Ethics on Online Labor Markets: How mood influences ethical perceptions," EconStor Preprints 244735, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    18. Fisch, Christian, 2019. "Initial coin offerings (ICOs) to finance new ventures," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 1-22.
    19. Deichmann, Dirk & Gillier, Thomas & Tonellato, Marco, 2021. "Getting on board with new ideas: An analysis of idea commitments on a crowdsourcing platform," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(9).
    20. Ferdinand Thies & Sören Wallbach & Michael Wessel & Markus Besler & Alexander Benlian, 2022. "Initial coin offerings and the cryptocurrency hype - the moderating role of exogenous and endogenous signals," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 32(3), pages 1691-1705, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:tefoso:v:176:y:2022:i:c:s0040162522000051. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00401625 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.