Design elements that influence the participation of solvers in innovation contests

Abstract

This study analyzes all of the innovation contests, also known as crowdsourcing contests, posted on the Inocrowd platform. Inocrowd is an open innovation intermediary firm, based in Portugal, that hosts crowdsourcing contests for firms, called “seekers” looking to solve innovation challenges. The main aim of this study is to examine to what extent some design elements of crowdsourcing contests can influence the participation of “solvers” in these contests. The design elements considered in this study are the monetary award amount, the project type, the platform maturity and the anonymity of “seeker” firms. We then created a mathematical model that can be used to predict the participation of “solvers” in crowdsourcing contests, based on the design elements examined. This paper contributes to the growing research field of open innovation, particularly crowdsourcing contests hosted by intermediary firms, and will provide managers with a framework for designing innovation contests with more participation.

Date of Award	15 Mar 2018
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Cláudia Isabel de Sousa Costa (Supervisor)