Krithika shed light on how organizations (seekers) rely on large groups of external individuals (solvers) to generate innovative ideas and solutions, yet the role of these individuals has often been underexplored in open innovation research. Highlighted the critical importance of understanding how individual solvers contribute to crowdsourcing success, both in corporate and social contexts.
Krithika explained that successful crowdsourcing hinges on effectively engaging these individuals, and she consolidated various approaches to tapping into their potential. From this analysis, she developed a typology for engaging individuals in crowdsourcing, outlining four distinct crowdsourcing strategies. These strategies are based on the type of solver expertise required—whether for technical problem-solving or ideation—and the different levels of solver interactions, such as innovation contests and online communities. Krithika also identified opportunities for future research to delve deeper into how organizations can best enable and harness solver engagement, ensuring valuable contributions to both theory and practice.
