Choosing the right crowdsourcing strategy: Implications for governments' crowdsourcing initiatives.

Building on recent advances in crowdsourcing research, we argue that, when using crowdsourcing, governments should accurately select the crowd they wish to engage with, depending on the problem to be solved. While targeting a large crowd may be common, it is not always the most appropriate: it can w...

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Published in:Public Administration Review Vol. 85; no. 5; pp. 1302 - 1316
Main Authors: Colovic, Ana, Bagherzadeh, Mehdi, Liévin, Jean‐Louis
Format: Article
Published: Wiley-Blackwell Sep/Oct2025
Subjects:
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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        atl: Choosing the right crowdsourcing strategy: Implications for governments' crowdsourcing initiatives.
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        au:
          Colovic, Ana
          Bagherzadeh, Mehdi
          Liévin, Jean‐Louis
        affil:
          NEOMA Business School, Mont Saint Aignan, France
          NEOMA Business School, Reims, France
          G.A.C. Group, Issy‐les‐Moulineaux, France
      su:
        Crowdsourcing
        Problem solving
        Decision making
        Cost benefit analysis
        Government programs
        Expertise
        Stakeholder analysis
      sug:
        subj:
          Crowdsourcing
          Problem solving
          Decision making
          Cost benefit analysis
          Government programs
          Expertise
          Stakeholder analysis
      ab: Building on recent advances in crowdsourcing research, we argue that, when using crowdsourcing, governments should accurately select the crowd they wish to engage with, depending on the problem to be solved. While targeting a large crowd may be common, it is not always the most appropriate: it can waste significant resources without necessarily producing satisfactory results. We contend that the nature of the problem should determine the crowdsourcing strategy. We propose a typology of problems based on their scope and technicity: specific nontechnical, specific technical, broad nontechnical, and broad technical. We introduce the main crowdsourcing strategies—fishing, hunting, and collective production—explain the rationale for each, and offer a practitioner's perspective on their costs and benefits. We then discuss how each strategy is suited for solving diverse problems and propose guidelines for governments on using crowdsourcing more effectively.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
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