Dissertation
Crowdsourcing IT Work: A Three-Fold Perspective from the Workers, Buyers and Platform Providers
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
01/2016
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/111328
Abstract
This dissertation examines the phenomena of crowdsourcing within the context of the IT services market. Crowdsourcing is presented as a mechanism to enhance and expand the technology workforce. This research examines the technology crowdsourcing phenomena from three perspectives: the worker (or labor supply), the buyer of technology services (or labor demand) and the marketplaces that facility the buyer-seller transaction. It explores how workforce development and IT Flexibility theories can be applied in explaining how crowdsourcing can be applied to technology tasks. This dissertation will be structured in a three essay format. Essay one explores the technology crowdsourcing phenomena from a “crowdworker” perspective. This essay examines technology crowdwork from a career anchors perspective, and highlights the potential role of crowdsourcing in expanding the technology workforce to additional sources of worker capacity. Essay one establishes the theories that describe the motivations and outcomes achieved by workers in crowdsourcing project engagements, and utilizes Schein’s Careen Anchors to examine the motivations of workers technology enabled collaborative work environments. Essay two uses IT Flexibility theory to examine the relationship between IT flexibility, the rigidity of IT administration and an organization’s choice to use crowdsourcing as means of IT services delivery. Essay two uses survey data to show that higher levels of IT flexibility are associated with higher levels of usage of crowdsourcing. Essay three uses a design science perspective to examine the ability of crowdsourcing marketplace platforms to meet the needs of IT service buyers and IT service workers as identified in Essay’s one and two. This essay identifies how simplification of procurement and management processes could make crowdsourcing more attractive to firms as a means of procuring IT services.
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Details
- Title
- Crowdsourcing IT Work: A Three-Fold Perspective from the Workers, Buyers and Platform Providers
- Creators
- Joseph Taylor
- Contributors
- KD Joshi (Advisor)Arvin Sahaym (Committee Member)Kenneth Butterfield (Committee Member)Terence Saldanha (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Carson College of Business
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 132
- Identifiers
- 99900581724901842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Dissertation