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Using Amazon Mechanical Turk and other compensated crowdsourcing sites

Author

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  • Schmidt, Gordon B.
  • Jettinghoff, William M.

Abstract

Crowdsourcing is becoming recognized as a powerful tool that organizations can use in order to get work done, this by freelancers and non-employees. We conceptualize crowdsourcing as a subcategory of outsourcing, with compensated crowdsourcing representing situations in which individuals performing the work receive some sort of payment for accomplishing the organization's tasks. Herein, we discuss how sites that create a crowd, such as Amazon Mechanical Turk, can be powerful tools for business purposes. We highlight the general features of crowdsourcing sites, offering examples drawn from current crowdsourcing sites. We then examine the wide range of tasks that can be accomplished through crowdsourcing sites. Large online worker community websites and forums have been created around such crowdsourcing sites, and we describe the functions they generally play for crowdsourced workers. We also describe how these functions offer opportunities and challenges for organizations. We close by discussing major considerations organizations need to take into account when trying to harness the power of the crowd through compensated crowdsourcing sites.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:bushor:v:59:y:2016:i:4:p:391-400
    DOI: 10.1016/j.bushor.2016.02.004
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Landers, Richard N. & Behrend, Tara S., 2015. "An Inconvenient Truth: Arbitrary Distinctions Between Organizational, Mechanical Turk, and Other Convenience Samples," Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Cambridge University Press, vol. 8(2), pages 142-164, June.
    2. 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.
    3. Ford, Robert C. & Richard, Brendan & Ciuchta, Michael P., 2015. "Crowdsourcing: A new way of employing non-employees?," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 58(4), pages 377-388.
    4. Prpić, John & Shukla, Prashant P. & Kietzmann, Jan H. & McCarthy, Ian P., 2015. "How to work a crowd: Developing crowd capital through crowdsourcing," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 58(1), pages 77-85.
    5. Schmidt, Gordon B., 2015. "Fifty Days an MTurk Worker: The Social and Motivational Context for Amazon Mechanical Turk Workers," Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Cambridge University Press, vol. 8(2), pages 165-171, June.
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