Crowdsourcing and its application in marketing activities

Document Type

Journal article

Source Publication

Contemporary Management Research

Publication Date

2009

Volume

5

Issue

1

First Page

15

Last Page

28

Keywords

Crowdsourcing, Outsourcing, Wikinomics

Abstract

Crowdsourcing is a newly developed term which refers to the process of outsourcing of activities by a firm to an online community or crowd in the form of an ‘open call’. Any member of the crowd can then complete an assigned task and be paid for their efforts. Although this form of labour organisation was pioneered in the computing sector, businesses have started to use ‘crowdsourcing’ for a diverse range of tasks that they find can be better completed by members of a crowd rather than by their own employees. This paper examines how firms are utilising crowdsourcing for the completion of marketing-related tasks, concentrating on the three broad areas of product development, advertising and promotion, and marketing research. It is found that some firms are using crowdsourcing to locate large numbers of individuals willing to complete largely menial repetitive tasks for limited financial compensation. Other firms utilise crowdsourcing to solicit solutions to particular tasks from a crowd of diverse and/or expert opinions. Conclusions are drawn regarding the advantages and the limitations of crowdsourcing and the potential for the future use of crowdsourcing in additional marketing-related applications.

DOI

10.7903/cmr.1145

Print ISSN

18135498

Publisher Statement

Access to external full text or publisher's version may require subscription.

Full-text Version

Publisher’s Version

Language

English

Recommended Citation

Whitla, P. (2009). Crowdsourcing and its application in marketing activities. Contemporary Management Research, 5(1), 15-28. doi: 10.7903/cmr.1145

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