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The Involvement of Crowds for Advancing Knowledge, Promoting Innovation and Nurturing New Entrepreneurial Ventures

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2022) | Viewed by 25303

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Francesco Cappa

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Guest Editor

Department of Business and Management, Luiss Guido Carli University, Rome, Italy
Interests: innovation; open innovation; crowdsourcing; citizen science; crowdfunding; sustainability; open sustainable innovation; big data

Dr. Angelo Natalicchio

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Guest Editor

Department of Mechanics, Mathematics and Management, Politecnico di Bari, Bari, Italy
Interests: innovation management; open innovation; crowdsourcing; crowdfunding; alliances; licensing; markets for ideas; patent analysis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Riccardo Maiolini

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Guest Editor

Department of Business Administration, John Cabot University, Rome, Italy
Interests: entrepreneurship; social innovation; crowdfunding; sustainability; social business modeling

Dr. Jakob Pohlisch

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Guest Editor

Department of Innovation Economics, Technical University Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Interests: open innovation; crowdsourcing; knowledge search; user innovation; user innovation communities; peer innovation

Dr. Erica Mazzola

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Guest Editor

Department of Engineering, Università degli Studi di Palermo, 90133 Palermo, Italy
Interests: innovation; strategy; operations
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

With this Special Issue, we aim to stimulate and collect state-of-the-art research on the emerging phenomena connected to the inclusion of crowds coming from inside or outside organizations’ boundaries to favor the advancement of knowledge, the development of innovation, and the spawning of new entrepreneurial ventures. Indeed, thanks to the pervasiveness of information technologies, individuals are increasingly being involved in: i) open innovation [1–3] and open sustainable innovation [4,5] through crowdsourcing [6–9]; ii) open innovation in science [10] and crowd science [11] by means of citizen science [12]; and iii) alternative funding methods thanks to crowdfunding [13–15]. Such crowd involvement also represents an additional strategy to better respond to the pressing grand challenges and sustainability issues we are facing today [4,10,16,17].

Notwithstanding the recent academic, policymaking, and managerial attention towards the inclusion of crowds in organizations’ activities due to the several benefits they can bring, our overall understanding of these topics is still limited and fragmented. Therefore, investigation about whether, how, when, and under which conditions crowd involvement can be beneficial for the organizations and all the stakeholders remains crucial.

Based on the above considerations, the topics welcome in this Special Issue include (but are not limited to):

How to better motivate the crowds to participate in crowdsourcing, citizen science, and crowdfunding activities;
Which are the organizations’ benefits and costs for involving dispersed individuals in their activities;
When the inclusion of crowds benefits organization performance;
Privacy issues, intellectual property rights concerns, data security, and legal risks in involving numerous individuals from inside or outside organizations’ boundaries;
Organizational designs and institutional factors that favor organizations tapping into crowd wisdom;
How organizations deal with the inputs coming from the crowd and complement them with those coming from internal resources;
Theoretical lenses to properly analyze crowdsourcing, citizen science and crowdfunding;
How the involvement of crowds may favor the collection and analysis of big data;
What does sustainability look like in the crowd age? How the crowd can push firms towards sustainable attitudes and outcomes.

References:

West, J.; Salter, A.; Vanhaverbeke, W.; Chesbrough, H. Open innovation: The next decade. Research Policy 2014, 43, 805–811.
Enkel, E.; Gassmann, O.; Chesbrough, H. Open R&D and open innovation: exploring the phenomenon. R&d Management 2009, 39, 311–316.
Grosse, M.; Pohlisch, J.; Korbel, J.J. Triggers of collaborative innovation in online user communities. Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity 2018, 4, 59–78.
Cappa, F.; Rosso, F.; Hayes, D. Monetary and Social Rewards for Crowdsourcing. Sustainability 2019, 11, 2834.
Arcese, G.; Flammini, S.; Lucchetti, M.C.; Martucci, O. Evidence and experience of open sustainability innovation practices in the food sector. Sustainability (Switzerland) 2015, 7, 8067–8090.
Piazza, M.; Mazzola, E.; Acur, N.; Perrone, G. Governance Considerations for Seeker–Solver Relationships: A Knowledge‐Based Perspective in Crowdsourcing for Innovation Contests. British Journal of Management 2019, 30, 810–828.
Cappa, F.; Oriani, R.; Pinelli, M.; De Massis, A. When does crowdsourcing benefit firm stock market performance. Research Policy 2019, 48, 103825.
Natalicchio, A.; Messeni Petruzzelli, A.; Garavelli, A.C. Innovation problems and search for solutions in crowdsourcing platforms – A simulation approach. Technovation 2017, 64, 28–42.
Mazzola, E.; Acur, N.; Piazza, M.; Perrone, G. “To Own or Not to Own?” A Study on the Determinants and Consequences of Alternative Intellectual Property Rights Arrangements in Crowdsourcing for Innovation Contests. Journal of Product Innovation Management 2018, 35, 908–929.
Cappa, F.; Rosso, F.; Capaldo, A. Visitor-Sensing: Involving the Crowd in Cultural Heritage Organizations. Sustainability 2020, 12, 1445.
Franzoni, C.; Sauermann, H. Crowd science: The organization of scientific research in open collaborative projects. Research Policy 2014, 43, 1–20.
Aristeidou, M.; Scanlon, E.; Sharples, M. Profiles of engagement in online communities of citizen science participation. Computers in Human Behavior 2017, 74, 246–256.
Stemler, A.R. The JOBS Act and crowdfunding: Harnessing the power-and money-of the masses. Business Horizons 2013, 56, 271–275.
Cappa, F.; Pinelli, M.; Maiolini, R.; Leone, M.I. “Pledge” me your ears! The role of narratives and narrator experience in explaining crowdfunding success. Small Business Economics 2020, In Press.
Messeni Petruzzelli, A.; Natalicchio, A.; Panniello, U.; Roma, P. Understanding the crowdfunding phenomenon and its implications for sustainability. Technological Forecasting and Social Change 2019, 141, 138–148.
Lopes, C.M.; Scavarda, A.; Hofmeister, L.F.; Thomé, A.M.T.; Vaccaro, G.L.R. An analysis of the interplay between organizational sustainability, knowledge management, and open innovation. Journal of Cleaner Production 2017, 142, 476–488.
Kuhlmann, S.; Rip, A. Next-Generation Innovation Policy and Grand Challenges. Science and Public Policy 2018, 45, 448–454.

Dr. Francesco Cappa
Dr. Angelo Natalicchio
Dr. Riccardo Maiolini
Dr. Jakob Pohlisch
Dr. Erica Mazzola
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Crowd
Crowdsourcing
Crowdfunding
Citizen science
Crowd science
Crowd wisdom
Open innovation
Open sustainable innovation
Open innovation in science
Sustainability
Grand challenges

Published Papers (9 papers)

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Research

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25 pages, 2913 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

How Can We Frame Energy Communities’ Organisational Models? Insights from the Research ‘Community Energy Map’ in the Italian Context

by Lorenzo De Vidovich, Luca Tricarico and Matteo Zulianello

Sustainability 2023, 15(3), 1997; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su15031997 - 20 Jan 2023

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2441

Abstract

According to the early transposition of the EU directives by the Italian government, this paper presents some of the outcomes of the qualitative-led applied research titled Community Energy Map, aimed at identifying the main operational models and organisational frameworks put in place for the development of renewable energy communities (RECs). In this respect, the article discusses a threefold subdivision of organisational models to implement RECs: public lead, pluralist, and community energy builders’ model. Furthermore, the paper illustrates in detail three of the nine case studies dedicated to recently launched RECs, conducted through qualitative fieldworks, to investigate the social and local implications generated by these community-led initiatives. The article stresses the relevance of both the local scale and community-led initiatives in the pathway towards a fair and just energy transition, by discussing how RECs define new organisational models of distributed energy systems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Involvement of Crowds for Advancing Knowledge, Promoting Innovation and Nurturing New Entrepreneurial Ventures)

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16 pages, 1098 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Incentive Structures for the Adoption of Crowdsourcing in Public Policy: A Bureaucratic Politics Model

by Luciana Cingolani and Tim Hildebrandt

Sustainability 2022, 14(20), 12982; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su142012982 - 11 Oct 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1880

Abstract

Collective intelligence paradigms have been increasingly embraced by the public sector as a way to address complex policy challenges. The field is limited, however, by our little, comparative understanding of the political economy factors that create incentives around the adoption of certain types of collective intelligence over others in different organizational settings. This article uses a typology of citizen-sourced open innovation models based on the work of Daren Brabham as well as insights from Elinor Ostrom and Archon Fung, in order to produce a theoretical model of the determinants of crowdsourcing adoption decisions in the public sector. The model derives a political economy analysis that matches various administrative scenarios to different collective intelligence modalities and developments. The insights are illustrated through a number of crowdsourcing initiatives and provide important lessons to practitioners designing such collective challenges. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Involvement of Crowds for Advancing Knowledge, Promoting Innovation and Nurturing New Entrepreneurial Ventures)

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23 pages, 1289 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effects of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivational Factors on Employee Participation in Internal Crowdsourcing Initiatives in China

by Ted Y. T. Suen, Simon K. S. Cheung, Fu Lee Wang and John Y. K. Hui

Sustainability 2022, 14(14), 8878; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14148878 - 20 Jul 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3106

Abstract

The concept of crowdsourcing, categorized into internal and external crowdsourcing, emerged relatively recently. Internal crowdsourcing gained increasing popularity in Chinese organizations. Based on the self-determination theory (SDT), this study advances the theoretical understanding of the effects of employee motivation antecedents (the three basic psychological needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness) on participation effort in internal crowdsourcing activities. Through an online survey, 435 employees in information technology organizations in southern China completed the questionnaires which used for statistical analysis and hypotheses testing. It was found that the three basic psychological needs significantly positively impacted employees’ intrinsic motivation, with autonomy having the most significant effect. Furthermore, only the needs for autonomy and competence were significantly positively associated with extrinsic motivation. A positive relation was observed between intrinsic motivation and employee participation effort in internal crowdsourcing. Although no direct relationship was revealed between extrinsic motivation and employee participation effort, an indirect effect of extrinsic motivation on employee participation via intrinsic motivation was observed, which aligned with one of the main concepts of SDT, the internalization process of extrinsic to intrinsic motivation. Accordingly, the SDT model is applicable to information technology organizations in China based on the findings of this study. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Involvement of Crowds for Advancing Knowledge, Promoting Innovation and Nurturing New Entrepreneurial Ventures)

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22 pages, 335 KiB

Open AccessArticle

How to Engage the Crowds to Create Value? Evidence from the Pathfinder Arena Case

by Anna Prisco, Valerio Muto, Ciro Troise and Mario Tani

Sustainability 2022, 14(7), 4342; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14074342 - 06 Apr 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1757

Abstract

Reward-based crowdfunding has emerged in recent years as an interesting channel business that can leverage to obtain new financial resources outside the traditional ones. In this study, we explore how the creators of a reward-based crowdfunding campaign have engaged the crowd to create value and co-create knowledge to reduce both financial and market risks. Accordingly, we analyze the case study of the Kickstarter Campaign for Pathfinder Arena, a board game created by Giochi Uniti, an Italian Gaming Company. Through the lens of the social identity theory, we show that backers can generate the feedback processes needed to improve the product, when they want to belong in a community and when they want to interact with the creators. This research could have important implications for both researchers and future creators of reward-based crowdfunding projects, showing them the way to implement some instrument for involving the crowd to generate value. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Involvement of Crowds for Advancing Knowledge, Promoting Innovation and Nurturing New Entrepreneurial Ventures)

26 pages, 962 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Open and Crowd-Based Platforms: Impact on Organizational and Market Performance

by Antonello Cammarano, Vincenzo Varriale, Francesca Michelino and Mauro Caputo

Sustainability 2022, 14(4), 2223; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14042223 - 15 Feb 2022

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2458

Abstract

The aim of the research was to present the state of the art on the use of open and crowd-based platforms and the advantages in terms of business performance that emerging practices employing such technologies are able to provide. The analysis was performed by extracting information on emerging practices from the repository Business Process Framework for Emerging Technologies developed by the Department of Industrial Engineering of the University of Salerno (Italy). Contingency tables allowed analysis of the association of such practices with industry, business function, business process, and impact on performance. From the analysis of the results, many implementation opportunities emerge, mainly in manufacturing, healthcare, and transportation industries, providing benefits not only in terms of efficiency and productivity, cost reduction, and information management but also in product/service differentiation. Therefore, the research provides an overview of opportunities for organizations employing open and crowd-based platforms in order to improve market and organizational performance. Moreover, the article highlights in what specific business contexts these technologies can be mainly useful. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Involvement of Crowds for Advancing Knowledge, Promoting Innovation and Nurturing New Entrepreneurial Ventures)

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17 pages, 1275 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Understanding the Spread of COVID-19 Based on Economic and Socio-Political Factors

by Lorenzo Dinia, Valerio Antonio Iannitti, Fabio Mangini, Francesca Di Lascio and Fabrizio Frezza

Sustainability 2022, 14(3), 1768; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14031768 - 03 Feb 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2687

Abstract

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, one of the main focuses worldwide has been to collect data on cases and deaths in the widest collaborative innovation to better understand the epidemic spread and keep its evolution under control. Under an “Open Innovation in Science” approach, researchers can contribute to producing new scientific knowledge on the features and, thus, the evolution of the epidemic, by which policymakers can have the tools to adopt optimal containment measures in order to maximize the economic growth and minimize the social impact. Little focus was given to identifying economic and socio-political factors that could drive the spreading of the coronavirus. In its initial stages, the spread of the virus seemed to follow specific paths without a clear explanation. The study aimed to analyze the relationships between mathematical factors obtained from the curves characterizing the COVID-19 spread during its first wave and economic and socio-political factors of the considered countries with an exploratory approach based on data available from different sources. The intent was to identify the elements affecting the contagion and, thus, the COVID-19 cases. Twenty factors for specific countries were selected. In MATLAB environment, a homemade software was used to obtain the mathematical factors, and statistical software was used to identify the potential correlations existing between the mathematical parameters and the economic and socio-political factors. Interesting relationships were found with economic factors such as economic growth forecast and health spending as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), just to cite a few, with the spread of the epidemic. This study shows that a better understanding of the link between the epidemic and the economic and socio-political factors of human society can be the key to forecast more accurately the evolution of the pandemic, and even to predict the progress of future insurgencies. Vulnerabilities and weaknesses of our societies could also have the opportunity to be addressed with the ultimate goal of improving the economic, social, and environmental sustainability of human society. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Involvement of Crowds for Advancing Knowledge, Promoting Innovation and Nurturing New Entrepreneurial Ventures)

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19 pages, 600 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Rewards and Innovation Performance in Manufacturing Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)

by Gustave Mungeni Kankisingi and Shepherd Dhliwayo

Sustainability 2022, 14(3), 1737; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14031737 - 02 Feb 2022

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3383

Abstract

The study investigated types of rewards SMEs offered to intrapreneurs and how these (rewards) contribute to innovation performance (IP). A questionnaire was administered to a sample of 300 SME owner-managers from the industrial spatial distribution areas of Kwa-Zulu Natal province in South Africa. Results show that besides a regular salary offered by 99.5% of the SMEs, fewer than 37.1% of them paid other forms of rewards. The empirical findings show that rewards had an influence on innovation performance. From the 17 rewards awarded to intrapreneurs by SMEs, only “promotion within organisation” and “monetary bonus rewards” had a positive and significant influence on innovation performance. Four other rewards had a significant but negative influence on IP. Rewards are an important tool to encourage crowdsourcing intrapreneurial contribution to IP. Rewards should therefore be strategically selected given the limited financial resources in SMEs. The importance of this study is its focus on SMEs, which are characterised by limited information on the effect of rewards on innovation performance, as well as the efficiency driven economic setting, normally not characterised by “innovation performance”. The study also shows how IP can be crowdsourced through appropriate rewards. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Involvement of Crowds for Advancing Knowledge, Promoting Innovation and Nurturing New Entrepreneurial Ventures)

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18 pages, 735 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Community Support or Funding Amount: Actual Contribution of Reward-Based Crowdfunding to Market Success of Video Game Projects on Kickstarter

by Oguzhan Aygoren and Stefan Koch

Sustainability 2021, 13(16), 9195; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13169195 - 16 Aug 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3163

Abstract

The research provides empirical evidence differentiating between market success and funding success in reward-based crowdfunding campaigns of video games and hypothesizes that the actual contribution of crowdfunding is more stemming from community support and feedback rather than funding amount. The paper uses publicly available data by combining three different sources. Project data from Kickstarter, a large crowdfunding website, in the video game category are extracted and matched with market success variables of ratings and revenues from two other public sources namely Metacritic and Steamspy. Regression results indicate that once the project is successfully funded, the funding amount does not have a significant effect on market success variables. On the other hand, the number of backers as a community support variable is a significant determinant of market success in terms of higher revenues and ratings for a project. Whether the project was successfully funded or not moderates some of the relationships. Prior literature is predominantly focused on crowdfunding success in terms of financing. Yet, this study empirically demonstrates that funding does not necessarily indicate that projects will be successful in the market and further shows the actual contribution of crowdfunding to the market success of video game projects is the community engagement, not the funding amount. This study contributes to the rapidly emerging crowdfunding literature by extending its boundaries from the crowdfunding platforms themselves to the differentiated effects of crowdfunding on market success, which has not been studied thoroughly. This paper provides a new avenue of research by suggesting not solely focusing on funding outcomes but understanding, defining and explaining the dynamics of the community aspect in crowdfunding platforms with their repercussions on market success. Future work can also highlight potential differences in these effects between product groups, as well as more holistically assess market success and capture interactions within the community on crowdfunding platforms. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Involvement of Crowds for Advancing Knowledge, Promoting Innovation and Nurturing New Entrepreneurial Ventures)

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Review

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22 pages, 957 KiB

Open AccessReview

Towards a Transdisciplinary Theoretical Framework of Citizen Science: Results from a Meta-Review Analysis

by Andrea Spasiano, Salvatore Grimaldi, Alessio Maria Braccini and Fernando Nardi

Sustainability 2021, 13(14), 7904; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13147904 - 15 Jul 2021

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2658

Abstract

This work intends to lay the foundations for a theoretical framework of citizen science combining social and organizational implications with the support of information technologies. The proposed theoretical framework moves towards a shared and common research process between experts and citizens to deal with environmental and social challenges. The role and capacity of online communities is explored and their engagement capacity by means of web-based digital platforms supporting crowdsourcing activities. In this contribution, authors highlight the most common practices, methods and issues of citizen science approaches adopted from multidisciplinary application fields to obtain insights for designing a new participative approach for organizational studies. To reach this goal, authors illustrate the results of a systematic meta-review analysis, consisting of an accurate selection and revision of journal review articles in order to highlight concepts, methods, research design approaches and tools adopted in citizen science approaches. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Involvement of Crowds for Advancing Knowledge, Promoting Innovation and Nurturing New Entrepreneurial Ventures)

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