Abstract: The current global economic crisis has a pervasive impact on national economies and labour markets, resulting in increasing unemployment. Due to the fact that many unemployed workers do no longer have the chance to find a permanent position in their sector of expertise, crowdsourcing marketplaces such as InnoCentive, TopCoder, uTest, and CrowdSpring are booming.

Driver 

Social

The participation in crowdsourcing activities, particularly conducted in virtual environments as online communities, is associated with social rewards as friendship, social feedback and peer recognition.

Technological

Web 2.0. technology enables collective knowledge creation activities, the collaborative production of innovative ideas and solutions and also the “crowdsourcing” of simple as well as complex tasks.

Economic / Industrial

Prevailing problems in the international labour markets might give rise to new forms of working models and incentives for unemployed persons to increasingly engage in crowdsourcing projects in order to perceive monetary benefits.

Obstacle

Economic / Industrial

Although participation in crowdsourcing projects can also be driven by intrinsic motivation, especially jobless workers want to gain monetary in addition to social reward. Thus, the extent of the monetary compensation affects the willingness to participate in crowdsourcing activities. If benefits become too low, participation levels will probably drop.

Indication

Change in current innovation patterns

Crowdsourcing platforms might become an emerging form to stay in contact with the working world, sharpen own skills and get recognised by others. This will affect the working world in general and also innovative industries: More open innovation projects and changing academic career patterns.

Uncertain

Does crowdsourcing represent the beginning of the end of creative organizations? Or does it herald the beginning of something bigger and transformational for those agencies—and for business in general?

Sector specifics / cultural specifics

This Weak Signal is not specific to a particular sector or culture.

Source

Magazine

BusinessWeek Online, www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/jun2009/id20090615_946326.htm