The Theory of Crowd Capital

Abstract

We are seeing more and more organizations undertaking activities to engage dispersed populations through Information Systems (IS). Using the knowledge-based view of the organization, this work conceptualizes a theory of Crowd Capital to explain this phenomenon. Crowd Capital is a heterogeneous knowledge resource generated by an organization, through its use of Crowd Capability, which is defined by the structure, content, and process by which an organization engages with the dispersed knowledge of individuals – the Crowd. Our work draws upon a diverse literature and builds upon numerous examples of practitioner implementations to support our theorizing. We present a model of Crowd Capital generation in organizations and discuss the implications of Crowd Capital on organizational boundary and on IS research.

Keywords: Crowd Capital, Crowd Capability, KBV, RBV, Heterogeneous Knowledge, Dispersed Knowledge, Hayek, IS, Social Capital, Intellectual Capital, Crowdsourcing, Prediction Markets, Peer Production, Open Innovation, Collective Intelligence, Wikis, Wikipedia, ReCaptcha, Citizen Science, Gamification, Foldit