IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ids/ijisde/v5y2011i2-3p246-263.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Crowdsourcing of inventive activities: definition and limits

Author

Listed:
  • Julien Pénin
  • Thierry Burger-Helmchen

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is twofold: First we define the concept of Crowdsourcing of Inventive Activities (CIA) and we emphasise its differences with the crowdsourcing of routine activities and the crowdsourcing of content. Then we stress the advantages and limits of CIA by using two complementary theories of the firm: Transaction cost theory and the evolutionary theory of the firm. Specifically, we show that CIA may emerge only if knowledge is sufficiently codified and if a legal protection is possible (e.g. via patents). This work therefore builds theoretical predictions that can be tested in further works. Beyond this analysis, our work underlines issues for the traditional theories of the firm that will have to be clarified: for instance, does the emergence of crowdsourcing lead to rethinking the reasons why firms exist and the definition of their boundaries?

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:ids:ijisde:v:5:y:2011:i:2/3:p:246-263
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=43068
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

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

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Schenk, Eric & Guittard, Claude & Pénin, Julien, 2019. "Open or proprietary? Choosing the right crowdsourcing platform for innovation," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 303-310.
    2. 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).
    3. Silvia Blasi & Silvia Rita Sedita, 2018. "Leveraging the power of creative crowds for innovative brands: the eYeka crowdsourcing initiatives," "Marco Fanno" Working Papers 0228, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche "Marco Fanno".
    4. Leimeister, Jan Marco & Zogaj, Shkodran, 2013. "Neue Arbeitsorganisation durch Crowdsourcing: Eine Literaturstudie," Arbeitspapiere 287, Hans-Böckler-Stiftung, Düsseldorf.
    5. Francesco Cappa & Federica Rosso & Darren Hayes, 2019. "Monetary and Social Rewards for Crowdsourcing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-14, May.
    6. Milis Nilgun Caibula & Constantin Militaru, 2021. "Stakeholders Influence on the Closing Phase of Projects," Postmodern Openings, Editura Lumen, Department of Economics, vol. 12(1Sup1), pages 136-148, April.
    7. 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.
    8. Prpić, John, 2017. "A Geography of Participation in IT-Mediated Crowds," SocArXiv a7k27, Center for Open Science.
    9. Steffen Roth & Jari Kaivo-Oja & Thomas Hirschmann, 2013. "Smart regions: two cases of crowdsourcing for regional development," International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 20(3), pages 272-285.

    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:ids:ijisde:v:5:y:2011:i:2/3:p:246-263. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Sarah Parker (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.inderscience.com/browse/index.php?journalID=33 .

    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.