Understanding Characteristics of High Performers in Two-Sided Competitive Crowdsourcing

This study seeks to understand how professionals’ (creative) Adaption-Innovation behaviors and prior knowledge influence successful participation in two-sided competitive crowdsourcing. Using Kirton’s Adaption-Innovation Theory, the study examines the influence of creatives’ diversity, skills, experience, and activity level on crowdsourcing outcomes. Analysis of cross-sectional data of participants on a popular competitive crowdsourcing platform show that, while diversity and skills do not necessarily lead to higher performance, activity level and experience contribute to creatives’ higher performance. Contribution to literature is by extending Kirton’s Adaption-Innovation Theory objectively as a lens to understand creative participation in crowdsourcing, highlighting key features of crowdsourcing as unbounded by place and skills