The Value of Crowdsourcing for Complex Problems: Comparative Evidence from Software Developed By the Crowd And Professionals

Crowdsourcing is a problem solving model. In the context of complex problems, conventional theory suggests that solving complex problems is a province of professionals, that is, people with sufficient knowledge about the domain. Prior literature has indicated that the crowd, in addition to professionals, is also a great source for solving problems such as product innovation and idea generation. However, this assumption has yet to be tested. Adopting a quasi-experimental approach, this study uses a two-phase process to investigate this question. In the first phase we compare the development of a software by the crowd and professionals. In the second phase we evaluate the software developed by the crowdsourcing business model and professionals in terms of key perceived quality dimensions assessed by users of the systems. Quality is measured in terms of pragmatic quality, hedonic quality stimulation, and hedonic quality identification. Our study results suggest that there is a statistically significant difference between the software developed by a crowdsourcing business model and professionals in terms of hedonic quality stimulation and hedonic quality identification but there is no difference in terms of pragmatic quality. This research offers a first assessment of whether a crowdsourcing business model can be used to develop software with better user experience than professionallydeveloped software. Keywords: Crowdsourcing; Pragmatic Quality; Hedonic Quality; Complex-Problem; Software Developmen