Factors Affecting the Practices of External Problem Solvers in Broadcast Search

In Broadcast Search (BS) an organization discloses the details of a problem to a community of potential solvers. An online intermediary often manages the process. This study investigates the problem solving practices of solvers. In particular it focuses on the intermediation services and knowledge sources thy use during BS. A questionnaire was distributed to successful solvers. Ninety-three complete questionnaires were returned. The results show that intermediation services can be divided in 3 categories: managing interfaces, supporting collaboration and supporting problem solving. Similarly the sources of knowledge can be divided in: institutional, social and output-oriented sources. The results also show that differences in solver’s use of intermediation services and knowledge sources can be explained taking into account solvers’ experience, organizational context as well as the nature of the proposed solutio

THE ROLE OF THE CUSTOMER IN THE ADOPTION OF AGILE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT METHODOLOGIES

This study focuses on the role the customer plays in the adoption and consolidation of Agile practices in software development firms. We considered two main aspects: 1) the degree of collaboration between customers and suppliers; 2) the degree of active participation of the customer in software development processes. We argue that both these factors affect the level of Agility of an organization. To investigate this topic we conducted a survey among firms that use agile software development methodologies. The sample of respondents was obtained from the social network Linkedin. We received one hundred and five valid questionnaires before subjecting the data to hierarchical linear regression analysis. Our findings suggest that a collaborative and active role of the customer increases Agility. This study provides original empirical data on the frequency of use of Agile practices in software development processes. From a theoretical point of view it clarifies the role of two different customer-related factors: customer collaboration and customer participation

CONTINUANCE INTENTION IN CROWDSOURCING PROCESSES

With the growing popularity of Crowdsourcing (CS), companies are developing different strategies to tap into the creativity of the crowd. Some of these strategies imply the long-term involvement of communities of external individuals. Since participation in CS is voluntary, it is important to understand the determinants of participation. Several studies exist that investigated the motivations of participants in CS initiatives. These studies, however, did not make distinction between people who participate only once and people who after the first experience intend to participate again. This research attempts to explore the determinants of repeated participation, critical for the success of long-term CS strategies. We investigate the impact of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations on the intention continue for participants in CS initiatives. To address this objective, a survey involving individuals, who have participated at least once in CS initiatives, has been conducted. Hierarchical regression analysis has been used to test the hypotheses. The findings demonstrate that intrinsic motivations impact on the intention to continue for participants in CS initiatives. The impact of extrinsic motivations (i.e. monetary rewards and reputation) was found to be not significant. As a consequence, companies willing to adopt long-term CS strategies need to leverage intrinsic motivations in order to involve communities of external individuals in their innovation processes

Enabling open innovation: Proposal of a framework supporting ICT and KMS implementation in web-based intermediaries

Open Innovation is a model used to describe how nowadays companies source and exploit new technologies, new products and services. Web-Based Intermediaries (WBIs) have entered the emerging innovation market and are expected to dramatically increase the number of innovation exchanges. However there are not yet clear theoretical guidelines supporting the design and management of such intermediaries. We use organizational sense-making theory and relative absorptive capacity (RAC) theory to analyze the factors that still hinder Open Innovation. From sensemaking theory and RAC theory we draw directions on the services WBIs need to provide in order to effectively support an innovation market. Since information technology is critical to the success of a WBI, we also give directions on how ICT and KMS can be used in order to support these services

Virtual Organizations Through a Relational Lens

Virtual organizations have often been identified with a strong ICT infrastructure, used to increase organizational flexibility. In these paper we argue that ICT is important, but not sufficient: organizational aspects (roles, rules, methods) are also critical. Flexibility can be achieved acting on organizational relations and making them looser. The risk must be avoided, however, that loose organizational relations decrease organizational controllability. We propose the Organizational Relational Model, developed by one of the authors in other papers, as a useful framework for organizational analysis and design in virtual settings. Two strategies for virtual organizing are proposed and described