Crowd-Generated Innovation: The Effects of Knowledge Integration and Knowledge Types in Online Open Challenges

Employing temporary online crowds to generate innovative ideas is gaining in popularity. Despite the large amount of research that has repeatedly demonstrated the value of crowd-generated ideas, the difficulty of synthesizing... [ view full abstract ]

Employing temporary online crowds to generate innovative ideas is gaining in popularity. Despite the large amount of research that has repeatedly demonstrated the value of crowd-generated ideas, the difficulty of synthesizing the various types of knowledge contributed by the participants has rarely been discussed in terms of innovation production. Our study, based on the observation of twenty-one innovative challenges, finds that the degree of innovation depends on the types of knowledge contributed prior to the knowledge synthesis. In particular, the innovativeness of the outcomes will depend on the prior assumptions of contributors and on the prior questions of both integrators and others. Prior random ideas turn out to be detrimental to innovative knowledge synthesis. Implications and future directions are discussed.