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Incentives in Contests with Heterogeneous Solvers

Author

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  • Ersin Körpeoğlu

    (School of Management, University College London, London E14 5AB, United Kingdom)

  • Soo-Haeng Cho

    (Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213)

Abstract

In a contest in which solvers with heterogeneous expertise exert effort to develop solutions, a recent paper [Terwiesch C, Xu Y (2008) Innovation contests, open innovation, and multiagent problem solving. Management Sci. 54(9):1529–1543] argues that as more solvers enter the contest, every solver will reduce effort due to a lower probability of winning the contest. This paper corrects mistakes in this theory, and shows that there exist high-expertise solvers who may raise their effort in response to increased competition. This is because more entrants raise the expected best performance among other solvers, creating positive incentives for solvers to exert higher effort to win the contest. Because of this positive effect, we find that a free-entry open contest is more likely to be optimal to a contest organizer than what Terwiesch and Xu (2008) and other prior literature asserted.

Suggested Citation

  • Ersin Körpeoğlu & Soo-Haeng Cho, 2018. "Incentives in Contests with Heterogeneous Solvers," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(6), pages 2709-2715, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:64:y:2018:i:6:p:2709-2715
    DOI: 10.287/mnsc.2017.2738
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Livio Cricelli & Michele Grimaldi & Silvia Vermicelli, 2022. "Crowdsourcing and open innovation: a systematic literature review, an integrated framework and a research agenda," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 16(5), pages 1269-1310, July.
    2. Naudé, Wim & Bray, Amy & Lee, Celina, 2021. "Crowdsourcing Artificial Intelligence in Africa: Findings from a Machine Learning Contest," IZA Discussion Papers 14545, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Ying-Ju Chen & Tinglong Dai & C. Gizem Korpeoglu & Ersin Körpeoğlu & Ozge Sahin & Christopher S. Tang & Shihong Xiao, 2020. "OM Forum—Innovative Online Platforms: Research Opportunities," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 22(3), pages 430-445, May.
    4. C. Gizem Korpeoglu & Ersin Körpeoğlu & Sıdıka Tunç, 2021. "Optimal Duration of Innovation Contests," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 23(3), pages 657-675, May.
    5. Kimmy Wa Chan & Stella Yiyan Li & Jian Ni & John JianJun Zhu, 2021. "What Feedback Matters? The Role of Experience in Motivating Crowdsourcing Innovation," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 30(1), pages 103-126, January.
    6. Lakshminarayana Nittala & Sanjiv Erat & Vish Krishnan, 2022. "Designing internal innovation contests," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 31(5), pages 1963-1976, May.
    7. Nirup Menon & Anant Mishra & Shun Ye, 2020. "Beyond Related Experience: Upstream vs. Downstream Experience in Innovation Contest Platforms with Interdependent Problem Domains," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 22(5), pages 1045-1065, September.
    8. Hou, Ting & Zhang, Wen, 2021. "Optimal two-stage elimination contests for crowdsourcing," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    9. Jesse Bockstedt & Cheryl Druehl & Anant Mishra, 2022. "Incentives and Stars: Competition in Innovation Contests with Participant and Submission Visibility," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 31(3), pages 1372-1393, March.
    10. Pin Gao & Xiaoshuai Fan & Yangguang Huang & Ying-Ju Chen, 2022. "Resource Allocation Among Competing Innovators," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(8), pages 6059-6074, August.
    11. Laurence Ales & Soo‐Haeng Cho & Ersin Körpeoğlu, 2021. "Innovation Tournaments with Multiple Contributors," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 30(6), pages 1772-1784, June.
    12. Jürgen Mihm & Jochen Schlapp, 2019. "Sourcing Innovation: On Feedback in Contests," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(2), pages 559-576, February.
    13. Joel O. Wooten, 2022. "Leaps in innovation and the Bannister effect in contests," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 31(6), pages 2646-2663, June.
    14. Segev, Ella, 2020. "Crowdsourcing contests," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 281(2), pages 241-255.
    15. Shunyuan Zhang & Param Vir Singh & Anindya Ghose, 2019. "A Structural Analysis of the Role of Superstars in Crowdsourcing Contests," Service Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(1), pages 15-33, March.
    16. Bo Chen & Emilios Galariotis & Lijun Ma & Zijia Wang & Zhaobo Zhu, 2023. "On disclosure of participation in innovation contests: a dominance result," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 328(2), pages 1615-1629, September.

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