Value co-creation mechanisms of multi-agent participation in crowdsourcing innovation: A grounded theory study

Abstract

As a new business model, crowdsourcing innovation is widely used for enterprises to complete innovation tasks by the external crowds. The enterprises, the external crowds, and the crowdsourcing platform make an alliance and co-create value to achieve the multi-win goal. Based on the operation process analysis of the third-party platform crowdsourcing innovation model, this paper proposes that the essence of crowdsourcing innovation is the value co-creation of multi-agent participation. Based on grounded theory, this paper constructs the theoretical model of the realization mechanism of multi-agent participation value co-creation in crowdsourcing innovation from the three parties’ perspective. This research finds that value co-creation factors include six factors: task attributes, incentive mechanisms, trust mechanisms, the platform supports, participation motivation, and diversities. The process of value co-creation includes resource integration and interaction. The results of value co-creation include three elements: innovation value, knowledge value, and relationship value.

Keywords

Crowdsourcing innovation multi-agent participation value co-creation grounded theory

1 Introduction

As a new type of innovation model, crowdsourcing innovation refers to a business model in which a company or organization transfers the employees’ innovation issues to the crowds of the external network [13]. Its essence is that the company acquires and integrates user knowledge of external networks to improve innovation performance through breaking organizational boundaries [25]. The practice has proven that crowdsourcing innovation is an effective model to obtain the network group’s wisdom to solve innovation problems. Since InnoCentive founded in 2001, it has gathered more than 360, 000 people from more than 200 countries/ regions and cracked more than 2000 Innovation problems; IdeaStorm—Dell’s crowdsourcing innovation community, has nearly 30, 000 ideas submitted and 550 ideas realized; zbj.com, a typical Chinese crowdsourcing platform, has nearly 19 million users, helped 6,157,952 employers to solve innovation problems. Crowdsourcing innovation is profoundly affecting the innovation model of enterprises, and more and more Chinese companies are developing their crowdsourcing innovation platforms, such as Haier, Midea, etc. These Chinese platforms have achieved remarkable results, but their application is still in the primary scope of information processing or simple crowdsourcing work. And mainstream enterprises have insufficient participation, which is in sharp contrast with other countries leading companies effort to build crowdsourcing innovation models. One of the main reasons is that Chinese companies lack a systematic understanding of the advanced concepts of crowdsourcing innovation models, lack confidence in their applications, and need theoretical guidance.

For this reason, many scholars carry out related issues such as the crowdsourcing innovation model and its performance improvement from different perspectives. In consideration of that, crowdsourcing has an open organizational form and voluntary participants. Some scholars carried out an empirical analysis on open source software, Wikipedia, and some crowdsourcing websites. Research indicates that external motivations (bonus remuneration, the benefit to career, sense of achievement, etc.) and intrinsic motivations (interests, hobbies, learning, etc.) are users key motivations for participating in crowdsourcing innovation [14, 17]. And there has a crowding-out effect between external motivations and intrinsic motivations. The incentive strategy based on the user’s diverse participation motivation has an important impact on improving the performance of crowdsourcing innovation, but the mechanism is still in a black box [16 , 31]. Crowdsourcing contest, as the most direct mode of crowdsourcing innovation, is the main research object of crowdsourcing innovation, which related research is relatively rich. Current research mainly focuses on the setting of innovation tasks, design of crowdsourcing process, and reward mechanism. But in practice, the phenomenon of low user continuous participation and inefficient competition still hasn’t resolved. Some scholars hold a great lack of just considering the motivation of user participation and the crowdsourcing operation model to explore the improvement of crowdsourcing innovation performance. And it is necessary to analyze the impact of knowledge on the quality of crowdsourcing innovation from the perspective of knowledge sharing [17]. The above literature has great significance for interpreting crowdsourcing innovation and improving the innovation performance. However, crowdsourcing innovation operates in a free and open organizational model to accomplish hard tasks with participants uncertain, which have to carry out in-depth research on the mechanism of participant acquiring and applying knowledge to improve innovation performance from multiple perspectives.

To further clarify the nature of the crowdsourcing innovation, some scholars integrate value co-creation theory to conduct research: Kelleher et al. (2017) explore the value co-creation of online community-based idea contests (OCBICs) from three aspects (motivation, role, and behavior) by analyzing multiple cases [4]. Research indicates the participants mainly have internal and external motivations, and their role and behavior are adapted and coordinated according to the rules of the competition, the values and organizational model of the virtual community. Bloodgood (2013) and Kohler (2015) propose the value of contributors mainly included experience value and approbation value, both of them will be positively affected by perception control [10, 11]. Piyathasanan et al. (2018) consider the value of co-creation mainly included user value (social value and emotional value) and enterprise value (knowledge sharing and users’ loyalty), commitments in the innovation process will significantly positively affect user value and thus corporate value [3].

The existing literature mainly explored the value co-creation of crowdsourcing innovation from a unilateral perspective (enterprise value acquisition) [10, 11], without fully considering the characteristics of multi-agent participation in the crowdsourcing innovation model. Too much emphasis on methods of theoretical analysis, lack of empirical exploration combined with specific practices. This article analyzes the value co-creation issue under the crowdsourcing innovation model from the perspective of multi-agent participation. Based on the management practice of crowdsourcing innovation, using grounded theory, combined with typical Chinese crowdsourcing innovation platforms (zbj.com, Taskcn.com, epwk.com, and 680.com), carried out grounded theory approach on the realization mechanism of multi-agent participation in value co-creation under the crowdsourcing innovation model. The rest of this paper is organized as follows. In Section 2, this part introduces the related theories about crowdsourcing innovation and value co-creation and the similarities and differences between crowdsourcing innovation and value co-creation; Section 3 demonstrates the process and the result of grounded research; and the Section 4 is the findings of this research.

2 Basic theory and construct definition

2.1 Crowdsourcing innovation

Brabham (2008) considers crowdsourcing innovation as a problem-solving model that has both online and distributed features [7]. Jeppesen (2010) proposes that crowdsourcing innovation refers to a business model of enterprises transfer the innovation tasks originally completed by enterprises to non-specified external network groups through open tendering, and to select an optimal innovation proposal submitted by the public [20]. Afuah (2012) believes that crowdsourcing innovation is a new model for making full use of external resources of enterprises to solve problems of corporate innovation, attaching great importance to the orientation of enterprises to absorb the intellectual resources of external groups of the network [1]. Based on different research perspectives, Howe (2009) divides crowdsourcing into four categories (crowd creation, crowd vote, crowdfunding, and crowd wisdom) [12]. Panchal et al. (2011) propose crowdsourcing has two types of competition and cooperation according to the way of crowdsourcing [19]. In accordance with the build mode of the crowdsourcing platform, Frey et al. (2011) hold that there are two types of crowdsourcing innovation modes, one is based on enterprise self-built community and the other is based on third-party platforms [17]. Hao et al. (2014) divide the crowdsourcing model into the non-profit crowdsourcing innovation model and the for-profit crowdsourcing innovation model based on whether the crowdsourcing model had commercial characteristics [21].

This article focuses on the third-party platform-based crowdsourcing innovation model. The main participants of this model can be divided into the seeker, the solver, and the crowdsourcing platform. Generally, the seeker is a company with innovation needs. Due to constraints of resources or high R&D (research and development, R&D) costs, these companies choose the crowdsourcing model to obtain innovative solutions. The solver is generally a full-time/part-time team or individual with strong professional knowledge and skills, who want to meet their needs by solving innovative tasks. The crowdsourcing platform is the commercial e-commerce company to attract and acquire contractors and contractors as a basis for traffic, getting commissions by facilitating the completion of transactions between the outsourcer and the contractor. The general operation process of a crowdsourcing innovation project is shown in Fig. 1:(1) The seeker clarifies the innovation requirements, determines the reward, and submits the task; (2) The crowdsourcing platform reviews and releases the tasks, and collect commission in advance for safekeeping; (3) The solver selects appropriate innovative tasks, carries out work and completes the innovative tasks; (4) The solver submits the preliminary solvation and modify based on feedback; (5) The solver submits the final salvation. The seeker reviews the solvation whether meets the task requirements and lets the platform pay rewards to the solver.

Fig. 1

The general operation process of the crowdsourcing innovation model.

2.2 Value Co-creation

Value co-creation emphasizes value is created jointly by multiple stakeholders. Different scholars explore the connotation of value co-creation from multiple perspectives.

It mainly can be divided into two important branches. One is the value co-creation theory based on consumer experience proposed by Prahalad and Ramaswamy (2004) [6]. The other is based on service-led logic proposed by Vargo and Lusch (2004) [27]. The theory of value co-creation based on consumer experience holds that [6 , 19]:(1) The core of value co-creation is how to create the best consumer experience. (2) The basic way of value co-creation is dialogue and interaction between enterprises and consumers. Value co-creation based on service-led logic holds that [24, 27]:(1) Service is the basis of economic exchanges, and value co-creation is based on service exchanges. (2) Consumers as operational resources (knowledge, skills, experience, etc.) are also the creator of value. The difference between the two concepts is mainly reflected in the analysis perspective and the connotation expression. The value co-creation theory based on consumer experience mainly starts from the micro perspective of business management and focuses on improving the value of customer experience by creating an interactive environment. The value co-creation based on service-led logic is based on a macro perspective, reflecting the structure of the relationship between producers and consumers in the process of value creation. In terms of connotation, the value co-creation theory based on consumer experience is centered on the experience value of consumers, attaching great importance to the co-creation of experience value during the entire life cycle of design, production, and service; the value co-creation theory based on service-led logic and focus on use-value, it attaches great importance to the integration of products and services to create a complete set of solutions that meet customers’ needs.

2.3 Comparison of crowdsourcing innovation and value co-creation

Crowdsourcing innovation is a business model in which the employer transferring traditional tasks accomplished by internal employees to external network users (the public) in a free and voluntary manner. From the connotation of crowdsourcing innovation and specific management practices, it can be seen that the essence of crowdsourcing innovation is the value co-creation of multi-agent participation, which can be understood from the following aspects:

(1) From the purpose of crowdsourcing innovation, no matter what kind of crowdsourcing innovative models a company adopts, the ultimate goal is to complete innovation tasks and solve innovation problems. The high-quality solution for innovative tasks requires the active participation and effective coordination of multiple agents. The seekers must set the task requirements and reward clearly; the solvers must actively participate in submitting high-quality innovation solutions; the crowdsourcing platform must provide guarantee reliably and environment support. The output of crowdsourcing innovation not only includes the generation of high-quality innovative solutions, but also encourages users to obtain rewards, identification, and self-improvement in the participation process. And the crowdsourcing platform can obtain benefits commissions, reputation enhancements, and online value appreciation. It can be seen that the initial intention of the enterprise to establish a crowdsourcing innovation model is in line with the concept of “collaborative value creation” pursued by value co-creation.

(2) Judging from the process of crowdsourcing innovation, the process of crowdsourcing innovation and the process of value co-creation are the same, as shown in Table 1. The realization process of value co-creation is generally divided into two stages of communication and interaction and resource integration [8]. First through the interaction between multiple participants to identify the needs of multiple parties; then through resource integration and matching, it generates more value than the original creation of a unilateral subject. In the process of crowdsourcing innovation, the crowdsourcing platform provides a free and open place for knowledge trading, and knowledge seekers release innovative tasks, reward programs, and knowledge requirements; the solvers use their diversified and specialized knowledge to complete innovative tasks and get deserved rewards [33]. High-quality innovative solutions require the three parties to integrate diverse knowledge from a wide range of sources and collide with the knowledge from the solvers to generate new knowledge. During this period, whether it is a clear statement of innovation requirements or the process of providing and evaluating solutions, it is necessary for the seekers, the solvers, and the platform to continuously interact and share the information continuously.

Table 1
Comparison of core elements of crowdsourcing innovation and value co-creation

Main elements Crowdsourcing innovation Value co-creation

Connotations The seekers crowdsource innovation challenges to the public in an open manner to obtain innovative solutions Multiple stakeholders create value together through resource integration and interactive communication to achieve win-win results

Participants The seekers, the solvers, and crowdsourcing Platform Businesses, customers, and other stakeholders

Structures Loose organization, wide and free participants; adopting the virtual community or the third-party platform The loose organization, where stakeholders participate in multiple forms; constrained by common values, cooperation systems, rules and contracts

Processes The seeker identifies the requirements for innovation, issues tasks on the crowdsourcing platform; the solvers solve the innovation task and submit the solutions, and the seeker evaluates and selects the plan, then gives compensation Based on common values, formulate cooperation mechanisms, and through interactive communication, integrate multiple resources to create business value together

Outputs Solutions for innovative tasks Multiple business values (increased profits, increased knowledge, increased brand and reputation, and increased value of relationships, etc.)

Main elements	Crowdsourcing innovation	Value co-creation
Connotations	The seekers crowdsource innovation challenges to the public in an open manner to obtain innovative solutions	Multiple stakeholders create value together through resource integration and interactive communication to achieve win-win results
Participants	The seekers, the solvers, and crowdsourcing Platform	Businesses, customers, and other stakeholders
Structures	Loose organization, wide and free participants; adopting the virtual community or the third-party platform	The loose organization, where stakeholders participate in multiple forms; constrained by common values, cooperation systems, rules and contracts
Processes	The seeker identifies the requirements for innovation, issues tasks on the crowdsourcing platform; the solvers solve the innovation task and submit the solutions, and the seeker evaluates and selects the plan, then gives compensation	Based on common values, formulate cooperation mechanisms, and through interactive communication, integrate multiple resources to create business value together
Outputs	Solutions for innovative tasks	Multiple business values (increased profits, increased knowledge, increased brand and reputation, and increased value of relationships, etc.)

3 Research method and process

3.1 Research method

Grounded theory, as a qualitative research method, formats related theories through mining concepts and refining categories from the collection of empirical materials of related research objects [30]. The whole research process of the grounded theory presents a bottom-up inductive research idea, which is directly rooted in actual data. And summarize similar concepts into a category. Finally, the relationship between these categories is formed into a theoretical construction [5]. This method attaches great importance to building theoretical models based on factual data. It applies to areas where existing theoretical systems have difficulty explaining new practical phenomena or existing theories have certain flaws [32].

3.2 Research process

The main idea of the grounded theory is reflected in the progress of open coding, spindle coding, and selective coding, which mainly includes five major steps: problem definition, literature discussion, data collection, decoding, and theoretical construction, as shown in Fig. 2. After the initial theoretical model is constructed, it still needs to Test the saturation of the theoretical model. Use Nvivo11.0 to carry out grounded theory research following the processes of open coding, spindle coding, and selective coding.

Fig. 2

The main process of grounded theory.

3.2.1 Data collection

Take into consideration that zbj.com, taskcn.com, epwk.com, and 680.com are the most famous comprehensive crowdsourcing platforms in China. Data includes the bid winning experience and related interview records shared by participants on the platform. The data sources are shown in Table 2.

Table 2
Data sources

Crowdsourcing platform Source

zbj.com Freelancer stories, service provider interviews, Bajie circles

taskcn.com Freelance Experience, Freelance Interview

epwk.com VIP Experience Sharing, Excellent Freelancer

680.com Freelance interviews, freelance logs

Crowdsourcing platform	Source
zbj.com	Freelancer stories, service provider interviews, Bajie circles
taskcn.com	Freelance Experience, Freelance Interview
epwk.com	VIP Experience Sharing, Excellent Freelancer
680.com	Freelance interviews, freelance logs

In the process of collecting data, these principles are followed: (1)The participants are either freelancers with successful bidding experience, employers with experience in releasing tasks, or platform staff. (2)The types of innovation tasks involved are diversified to reduce the impact of type deviations. (3) The content of the data should be closely related to the winning experience, process experience, and gains. (4)The interview materials should be continuously supplemented and analyzed until the new concepts no longer appear in the process.

The time range is from January 2018 to December 2018. Interviews, reports, and articles about freelancer winning experience and participation experience of the employer were collected from four platforms. A total of 66 interview records was collected, covering the experience of the three parties (the seeker, the solvers, and the platform) of participating in crowdsourcing innovation.

3.2.2 Open coding

Open coding is a preliminary analysis and the arrangement of the raw materials. The following procedure was followed: data collecting ⟶ labeling ⟶ conceptualization ⟶ categorization. When coding the 56th interview, it finds there is no new codes appearing. Then the coding of the materials will be stopped, and the remaining 10 materials are used for theoretical saturation test. Through open coding of the interview records, 36 initial concepts and 33 initial categories were obtained. The results are shown in Table 3.

Table 3
Open coding

Interview Materials Attach a label Conceptualization Categorization

Not because I won the bid, or because of the 400 yuan winning bid. It is the first time the employer gave a positive comment on this work. Although it was only “good”, it was a great encouragement to me. Employer’s affirmation a1 Evaluation of the Employer A1 Intrinsic motivation

I think it’s worth it, not because I won the bid, but because my efforts were finally recognized by the employer. What impressed me most was that the employer said to me, “your diligence and efforts are the basis of our cooperation. I hope we can have a long-term cooperation in the future.” Employer’s recognition a2 Approval of the Employer

Attracting professional designers still requires more high-value tasks Bounty amount a3 Quest Bounty A2 Extrinsic motivation

When posting task requirements, it is very important to spend more time describing tasks clearly, saving everyone’s time and energy. Mission details a5 Mission requirements A3 Task details

Customers come from all walks of life. They all have their personalities and insights. Some even have a high vision, high requirements, and high standards. They pose a great challenge for us. We need to spend a lot of time and energy to research, familiar with this kind of product, but because the project areas involved are diverse and the content is interesting, it is very enjoyable for designers. Designers are very willing to meet new challenges and innovate in challenges. Task challenge a6 Task challenging A4 Task difficulty

The main task is to pick some with confidence, do not do their unfamiliar, so that the winning rate will increase. Task selection a4 Matching task A5 Task matching

In the beginning, I was working in an advertising company. At that time, I didn’t make much money. I heard a friend said that a freelancer had emerged and I could earn extra money. Then I searched on Baidu. The first place was task China. I registered. Earn extra money a7 Get economic benefits A6 Motivation for money

At that time, Witkey was still a new thing. I was very interested in it. To see how it works, I took part in the first task. Hobby a8 Satisfy personal interests A7 Motivation for interest

Sometimes at home, when I don’t work overtime, I want to give myself more exercise, I found the task China on the Internet and then joined the family. Ability training a9 Exercise personal skills A8 Motivation for growth

There are about 2,000 submissions, but I have been working hard to improve my level. Number of submissions a10 Number of tasks undertaken A9 solvers’ experience

In addition, designers should have certain sketching ability, high aesthetic ability, the ability to control the color, a lot of accumulation of product experience, thought of product manager, mold knowledge, etc. Individual ability a11 Designer expertise A10 solvers’ capability

When I learned that there are many excellent designers in taskcn.com, I plan to entrust a batch of new packaging to be designed to the freelancers on Mission China. Number of designers a12 A large number of designers A11 Number of solvers

We hope that we can protect the works of Witkey from plagiarism, and we’d better hide the whole process of submission. Strictly crackdown on plagiarism and better improve the quality of freelancers’ submissions to customers. Plagiarism a13 Preventing and combating plagiarism A12 Intellectual property protection

The biggest characteristic of these activities is that they are operated in secret, opaque, suspected of infringement, and difficult to obtain evidence. As time goes on, the real employer and the employee will have a crisis of trust, bidding and participation will become less and less inevitable. Opaque transactions a14 Guaranteed transaction transparency A13 Transparency

On the part of employers, credit value options should be added when tasks are sent to facilitate filtering out so-called advertising workers; for example, an employer only wants workers with a credit value higher than 10 to participate. Credit value a15 Increase credit rating A14 Credit evaluation

I hope the task China page can be more beautiful, the better user experience, I believe it will attract more people. Website page a16 Optimize web design A15 Website aesthetics

I really like the Chinese interface style of the task. It is clear, easy to operate, and standardized. Easy to operate a17 Web operability A16 Website usability

When Manager Geng posted the task, there were a lot of errors. The customer service staff of Mission China contacted Manager Geng in time and fixed some errors. This moved Manager Geng and felt that the customer service staff of Mission China was very responsible. Fix mistakes a18 Assist in publishing tasks A17 Service efficiency

There are too many overtime tasks. In this regard, management needs to be strengthened to allow customer service and employers to communicate well. Once there is a timeout, customer service staff should deal with it promptly, without delay. If it is too long, it will affect everyone’s motivation. Timeout a19 Communication timeout task

I know the No. 5 customer service of Time Fortune. He gave me the impression that it makes people feel very warm and comfortable. No matter the size of the matter, I will actively help you solve it and never complain. Customer attitude a20 Improve service quality A18 Service attitude

Every time before beginning to paint, I will first make clear his preference with the client. As only by understanding customers’ preferences can we better complete the design and help customers achieve the page they want. Customer communication a21 Understand customer’s needs A19 Task communication

You also need to communicate clearly with freelancers and take a few detours as possible. Only designers understand the design requirements, can be designed to meet the work. Freelance exchange a22 Clear mission requirements

Many times because the customer does not understand the programming, maybe he can’t understand what he wants. At this time, we need to take the initiative to help the customer to consider and give optimization suggestions. Freelance Advice a23 Clear need for content A20 Task optimization

Soon after, the employer contacted me actively and had better communication. After the plan was extended and optimized, the plan was finalized. Proactive contact a24 Employer feedback A21 Information feedback

The first task was relatively smooth, and I was very happy to chat with the customer, but the sign was later quite controversial. In the end, the customer was settled, and they preferred that style. Chat with customers a25 Mutual communication A22 Interpersonal interaction

Before I do any task, I set aside a day to collect information, such as information related to the enterprise or information in the same industry. Gather information a26 Information gathering A23 Resource acquisition

After joining the platform, there has been a great change in business concepts. There has been good communication and learning with customers, and the performance has been growing. Exchange learning a27 Information exchange A24 Resource sharing

At that time, I was still thinking about designing things on the platform after work. Looking up at the high-rise building across the street suddenly got inspiration. Designed the logo without eating at home, at noon the next day, my employer called me to modify it. Get inspired a28 Generate ideas A25 Resource innovation

I hope the mission in China will be better and better because this platform is really good, it is a platform for the new people to grow up quickly. Growing up very fast a29 Improve the ability of the contractor A26 Capability enhanced

On the other hand, some of his design things and ideas are beyond my previous contact, through which I have learned a lot and improved a lot. Learn a lot a30 Improve contractor knowledge A27 Knowledge improvement

Participating in a mission is not only for winning the bid, it is more an experience, seeking a change, an improvement. Experiencing failure and success on this platform is an accumulation of experience. Accumulated experience a31 Improve contracting party experience A28 Experience improvement

The task is full of Chinese talents. Sometimes I see some ideas. They are perfect and valuable. Perfect creative a32 Creative quality A29 Quality of innovative solutions

Mr. Yu told us that, first of all, there are many options for the works, and the space for selection is large. The others are that the price is very suitable. Optional a33 Solution selection space A30 Number of innovative solutions

However, the employer does not need the original documents, nor does it need to be changed. Instead, he told me that this task was just a “sincerity” expression, and he needed long-term partners. Long-term cooperation a34 Long-term relationship A31 Customer loyalty

Along the way, ups and downs, but through my efforts, I have learned a lot, the most important of which is to include a lot of Mission Chinese friends. Make friends a35 Broaden interpersonal relationships A32 Affective relationship

Because this is the website that I started, and also the website that let me grow and develop. I feel more comfortable. I have also made a lot of friends here, so I am willing to stay here. Stay on the platform a36 Crowdsourcing platform stickiness A33 Platform stickiness

Interview Materials	Attach a label	Conceptualization	Categorization
Not because I won the bid, or because of the 400 yuan winning bid. It is the first time the employer gave a positive comment on this work. Although it was only “good”, it was a great encouragement to me.	Employer’s affirmation	a1 Evaluation of the Employer	A1 Intrinsic motivation
I think it’s worth it, not because I won the bid, but because my efforts were finally recognized by the employer. What impressed me most was that the employer said to me, “your diligence and efforts are the basis of our cooperation. I hope we can have a long-term cooperation in the future.”	Employer’s recognition	a2 Approval of the Employer
Attracting professional designers still requires more high-value tasks	Bounty amount	a3 Quest Bounty	A2 Extrinsic motivation
When posting task requirements, it is very important to spend more time describing tasks clearly, saving everyone’s time and energy.	Mission details	a5 Mission requirements	A3 Task details
Customers come from all walks of life. They all have their personalities and insights. Some even have a high vision, high requirements, and high standards. They pose a great challenge for us. We need to spend a lot of time and energy to research, familiar with this kind of product, but because the project areas involved are diverse and the content is interesting, it is very enjoyable for designers. Designers are very willing to meet new challenges and innovate in challenges.	Task challenge	a6 Task challenging	A4 Task difficulty
The main task is to pick some with confidence, do not do their unfamiliar, so that the winning rate will increase.	Task selection	a4 Matching task	A5 Task matching
In the beginning, I was working in an advertising company. At that time, I didn’t make much money. I heard a friend said that a freelancer had emerged and I could earn extra money. Then I searched on Baidu. The first place was task China. I registered.	Earn extra money	a7 Get economic benefits	A6 Motivation for money
At that time, Witkey was still a new thing. I was very interested in it. To see how it works, I took part in the first task.	Hobby	a8 Satisfy personal interests	A7 Motivation for interest
Sometimes at home, when I don’t work overtime, I want to give myself more exercise, I found the task China on the Internet and then joined the family.	Ability training	a9 Exercise personal skills	A8 Motivation for growth
There are about 2,000 submissions, but I have been working hard to improve my level.	Number of submissions	a10 Number of tasks undertaken	A9 solvers’ experience
In addition, designers should have certain sketching ability, high aesthetic ability, the ability to control the color, a lot of accumulation of product experience, thought of product manager, mold knowledge, etc.	Individual ability	a11 Designer expertise	A10 solvers’ capability
When I learned that there are many excellent designers in taskcn.com, I plan to entrust a batch of new packaging to be designed to the freelancers on Mission China.	Number of designers	a12 A large number of designers	A11 Number of solvers
We hope that we can protect the works of Witkey from plagiarism, and we’d better hide the whole process of submission. Strictly crackdown on plagiarism and better improve the quality of freelancers’ submissions to customers.	Plagiarism	a13 Preventing and combating plagiarism	A12 Intellectual property protection
The biggest characteristic of these activities is that they are operated in secret, opaque, suspected of infringement, and difficult to obtain evidence. As time goes on, the real employer and the employee will have a crisis of trust, bidding and participation will become less and less inevitable.	Opaque transactions	a14 Guaranteed transaction transparency	A13 Transparency
On the part of employers, credit value options should be added when tasks are sent to facilitate filtering out so-called advertising workers; for example, an employer only wants workers with a credit value higher than 10 to participate.	Credit value	a15 Increase credit rating	A14 Credit evaluation
I hope the task China page can be more beautiful, the better user experience, I believe it will attract more people.	Website page	a16 Optimize web design	A15 Website aesthetics
I really like the Chinese interface style of the task. It is clear, easy to operate, and standardized.	Easy to operate	a17 Web operability	A16 Website usability
When Manager Geng posted the task, there were a lot of errors. The customer service staff of Mission China contacted Manager Geng in time and fixed some errors. This moved Manager Geng and felt that the customer service staff of Mission China was very responsible.	Fix mistakes	a18 Assist in publishing tasks	A17 Service efficiency
There are too many overtime tasks. In this regard, management needs to be strengthened to allow customer service and employers to communicate well. Once there is a timeout, customer service staff should deal with it promptly, without delay. If it is too long, it will affect everyone’s motivation.	Timeout	a19 Communication timeout task
I know the No. 5 customer service of Time Fortune. He gave me the impression that it makes people feel very warm and comfortable. No matter the size of the matter, I will actively help you solve it and never complain.	Customer attitude	a20 Improve service quality	A18 Service attitude
Every time before beginning to paint, I will first make clear his preference with the client. As only by understanding customers’ preferences can we better complete the design and help customers achieve the page they want.	Customer communication	a21 Understand customer’s needs	A19 Task communication
You also need to communicate clearly with freelancers and take a few detours as possible. Only designers understand the design requirements, can be designed to meet the work.	Freelance exchange	a22 Clear mission requirements
Many times because the customer does not understand the programming, maybe he can’t understand what he wants. At this time, we need to take the initiative to help the customer to consider and give optimization suggestions.	Freelance Advice	a23 Clear need for content	A20 Task optimization
Soon after, the employer contacted me actively and had better communication. After the plan was extended and optimized, the plan was finalized.	Proactive contact	a24 Employer feedback	A21 Information feedback
The first task was relatively smooth, and I was very happy to chat with the customer, but the sign was later quite controversial. In the end, the customer was settled, and they preferred that style.	Chat with customers	a25 Mutual communication	A22 Interpersonal interaction
Before I do any task, I set aside a day to collect information, such as information related to the enterprise or information in the same industry.	Gather information	a26 Information gathering	A23 Resource acquisition
After joining the platform, there has been a great change in business concepts. There has been good communication and learning with customers, and the performance has been growing.	Exchange learning	a27 Information exchange	A24 Resource sharing
At that time, I was still thinking about designing things on the platform after work. Looking up at the high-rise building across the street suddenly got inspiration. Designed the logo without eating at home, at noon the next day, my employer called me to modify it.	Get inspired	a28 Generate ideas	A25 Resource innovation
I hope the mission in China will be better and better because this platform is really good, it is a platform for the new people to grow up quickly.	Growing up very fast	a29 Improve the ability of the contractor	A26 Capability enhanced
On the other hand, some of his design things and ideas are beyond my previous contact, through which I have learned a lot and improved a lot.	Learn a lot	a30 Improve contractor knowledge	A27 Knowledge improvement
Participating in a mission is not only for winning the bid, it is more an experience, seeking a change, an improvement. Experiencing failure and success on this platform is an accumulation of experience.	Accumulated experience	a31 Improve contracting party experience	A28 Experience improvement
The task is full of Chinese talents. Sometimes I see some ideas. They are perfect and valuable.	Perfect creative	a32 Creative quality	A29 Quality of innovative solutions
Mr. Yu told us that, first of all, there are many options for the works, and the space for selection is large. The others are that the price is very suitable.	Optional	a33 Solution selection space	A30 Number of innovative solutions
However, the employer does not need the original documents, nor does it need to be changed. Instead, he told me that this task was just a “sincerity” expression, and he needed long-term partners.	Long-term cooperation	a34 Long-term relationship	A31 Customer loyalty
Along the way, ups and downs, but through my efforts, I have learned a lot, the most important of which is to include a lot of Mission Chinese friends.	Make friends	a35 Broaden interpersonal relationships	A32 Affective relationship
Because this is the website that I started, and also the website that let me grow and develop. I feel more comfortable. I have also made a lot of friends here, so I am willing to stay here.	Stay on the platform	a36 Crowdsourcing platform stickiness	A33 Platform stickiness

3.2.3 Spindle coding

The spindle coding is to discover and establish the links between the main categories. Through the exploration and analysis of the relationship between the categories, 6 main categories and 11 subcategories are formed, as shown in Table 4.

Table 4
Spindle coding

Main category Subcategory Initial category

Seekers’ factor Incentives A1 Intrinsic motivation

A2 Extrinsic motivation

Task attributes A3 Task details

A4 Task difficulty

A5 Task matching

Solvers’ factor Motivation to participate A6 Motivation for money

A7 Motivation for interest

A8 Motivation for growth

Diversity A9 Solvers’ experience

A10 Solvers’ capability

A11 Number of solvers

Crowdsourcing platforms’ factors Trust mechanism A12 Intellectual property protection

A13 Transparency

A14 Credit evaluation

Platform support A15 Website aesthetics

A16 Website usability

A17 Service efficiency

A18 Service attitude

Process of value co-creation Interact A19 Task communication

A20 Task optimization

A21 Information feedback

A22 Interpersonal interaction

Resource Integration A23 Resource acquisition

A24 Resource sharing

A25 Resource innovation

Result of value co-creation Knowledge value A26 Capability enhanced

A27 Knowledge improvement

A28 Experience improvement

Innovation value A29 Quality of innovative solutions

A30 Number of innovative solutions

Relationship value A31 Customer loyalty

A32 Affective relationship

A33 Platform stickiness

3.2.4 Selective coding

Selective coding is the refining and integration of the content of spindle coding. Through mining the “core category” from the main and subsidiary categories, and analyzing the connection between the core category and the main and subsidiary categories, this article develops a new substantive theoretical framework. The canonical relational structure of the main category obtained through selective coding is shown in Table 5; the theoretical model of the realization mechanism of multi-agent participation in value co-creation under the environment of crowdsourcing innovation is constructed, as shown in Fig. 3.

Table 5
Relationship structure

Relationship structure Connotation

Seekers’ factor ⟶ Process of value co-creation Seekers’ factors have an impact on the process of value co-creation.

Solvers’ factor ⟶ Process of value co-creation Solvers’ factors have an impact on the process of value co-creation.

Crowdsourcing platforms’ factors ⟶ Process of value co-creation Crowdsourcing platforms’ factors have an impact on the process of value co-creation.

Process of value co-creation ⟶ Result of value co-creation The process of value co-creation has an impact on the Result of value co-creation.

Relationship structure	Connotation
Seekers’ factor ⟶ Process of value co-creation	Seekers’ factors have an impact on the process of value co-creation.
Solvers’ factor ⟶ Process of value co-creation	Solvers’ factors have an impact on the process of value co-creation.
Crowdsourcing platforms’ factors ⟶ Process of value co-creation	Crowdsourcing platforms’ factors have an impact on the process of value co-creation.
Process of value co-creation ⟶ Result of value co-creation	The process of value co-creation has an impact on the Result of value co-creation.

Fig. 3

The model of realization mechanism of multi-agent participation in value co-creation under the crowdsourcing innovation.

3.2.5 Theoretical saturation test

To test the saturation of the theoretical model, the test was performed on the remaining 10 interviews. The result shows that there are no new concepts or categories that emerged during the coding of the remaining material. It can be considered that the model obtained is theoretically saturated by taking the grounded theory of the 66 data collected.

3.2.6 Result analysis

Based on the above analysis, the frequency of all codes in each conceptual category was statistically analyzed as shown in Table 6. It can be seen that extrinsic motivation, credit evaluation, motivation for growth, and customer loyalty are the four codes with a high reference frequency. By comprehensive comparison, among the factors of influencing value co-creation, the frequency of task attribute was the highest (9.04%); among the factors of the process of value co-creation, the mentions frequency of communication interaction (12.78%) is higher than the resource integration (10.92%); among the factors of the result of value co-creation the most frequently mentioned is relationship value (10.31%).

Table 6
Statistical analysis of the codes

Category Coding Time Frequency Total

In-band frequency Overall frequency

Task attributes Task details 28 33.33% 3.01% 9.04%

Task difficulty 19 22.62% 2.04%

Task matching 37 44.05% 3.97%

Incentives Intrinsic motivation 31 41.89% 3.33% 7.95%

Extrinsic motivation 43 58.11% 4.62%

Trust mechanism Credit evaluation 37 46.25% 3.97% 8.59%

Transparency 17 21.25% 1.83%

Intellectual Property Protection 26 32.50% 2.79%

Platform support Website aesthetics 13 17.33% 1.40% 8.05%

Website usability 29 25.33% 3.11%

Service attitude 15 20.00% 1.61%

Service efficiency 18 24.00% 1.93%

Motivation to participate Motivation for money 23 31.94% 2.47% 7.73%

Motivation for interest 15 20.83% 1.61%

Motivation for growth 34 47.22% 3.65%

Diversity Number of solvers 16 24.62% 1.72% 6.99%

Solvers’ capability 24 36.92% 2.58%

Solvers’ experience 25 38.46% 2.69%

Interact Task communication 40 33.61% 4.30% 12.78%

Task optimization 30 25.21% 3.22%

Interpersonal communication 33 27.73% 3.54%

Information feedback 16 13.45% 1.72%

Resource Integration Resource acquisition 38 38.00% 4.08% 10.92%

Resource Sharing 26 26.00% 2.79%

Resource innovation 36 36.00% 3.87%

Innovation value Number of innovative solutions 37 44.05% 3.97% 9.02%

Quality of innovative solutions 47 55.95% 5.05%

Knowledge value Capability enhanced 27 32.93% 2.90% 8.79%

Knowledge enhanced 25 30.49% 2.67%

Experience improvement 30 36.59% 3.22%

Relationship value Customer loyalty 19 19.79% 2.04% 10.31%

Affective relationship 32 33.33% 3.44%

Customer stickiness 45 46.88% 4.83%

Category	Coding	Time	Frequency	Total
Task attributes	Task details	28	33.33%	3.01%	9.04%
	Task difficulty	19	22.62%	2.04%
	Task matching	37	44.05%	3.97%
Incentives	Intrinsic motivation	31	41.89%	3.33%	7.95%
	Extrinsic motivation	43	58.11%	4.62%
Trust mechanism	Credit evaluation	37	46.25%	3.97%	8.59%
	Transparency	17	21.25%	1.83%
	Intellectual Property Protection	26	32.50%	2.79%
Platform support	Website aesthetics	13	17.33%	1.40%	8.05%
	Website usability	29	25.33%	3.11%
	Service attitude	15	20.00%	1.61%
	Service efficiency	18	24.00%	1.93%
Motivation to participate	Motivation for money	23	31.94%	2.47%	7.73%
	Motivation for interest	15	20.83%	1.61%
	Motivation for growth	34	47.22%	3.65%
Diversity	Number of solvers	16	24.62%	1.72%	6.99%
	Solvers’ capability	24	36.92%	2.58%
	Solvers’ experience	25	38.46%	2.69%
Interact	Task communication	40	33.61%	4.30%	12.78%
	Task optimization	30	25.21%	3.22%
	Interpersonal communication	33	27.73%	3.54%
	Information feedback	16	13.45%	1.72%
Resource Integration	Resource acquisition	38	38.00%	4.08%	10.92%
	Resource Sharing	26	26.00%	2.79%
	Resource innovation	36	36.00%	3.87%
Innovation value	Number of innovative solutions	37	44.05%	3.97%	9.02%
	Quality of innovative solutions	47	55.95%	5.05%
Knowledge value	Capability enhanced	27	32.93%	2.90%	8.79%
	Knowledge enhanced	25	30.49%	2.67%
	Experience improvement	30	36.59%	3.22%
Relationship value	Customer loyalty	19	19.79%	2.04%	10.31%
	Affective relationship	32	33.33%	3.44%
	Customer stickiness	45	46.88%	4.83%

4 Findings

Based on the qualitative research results of the grounded theory, this paper analyzes the value co-creation realization mechanism of multi-agent participation in the crowdsourcing innovation model from two aspects: the key influencing factors of value co-creation and the influence mechanism of the value co-creation process.

(1) The key influencing factors of value co-creation of multi-agent participation in crowdsourcing innovation

The co-creation of value in crowdsourcing innovation activities is achieved by the three parties: the seeker, the solvers, and the crowdsourcing platform. Based on different motivations, participants invest different resources and have different behaviors, so their influencing factors of value co-creation are different.

From the perspective of the seeker, the factors that affect value co-creation mainly include the task attribute and the incentive mechanism. Task attributes are the characteristics of innovative tasks, including task difficulty, details of the task description, task novelty, etc. The purpose of the seekers’ participation in crowdsourcing is to solve innovation problems and complete innovation tasks. Zhang et al. (2016) found that task difficulty, task duration, task novelty, and other attributes have a significant impact on crowdsourcing the innovation performance [31]. The incentive mechanism focuses on the incentive methods adopted by the seekers to promote the realization of value co-creation, generally including internal incentives and external incentives. Frey et al. (2011) found that the incentive mechanism has a significant impact on the behavior of the solvers, which will increase the fairness perception of the solvers, and thus improve the participation of the solvers [17].

Factors affecting value co-creation from the perspective of crowdsourcing platforms include trust mechanisms and platform support. In the network environment, the symmetry and transparency of information between subjects are closely related to trust, which in turn directly affects the enthusiasm and investment of participants in value co-creation. Marian et al. (2015) pointed out that users’ participation in crowdsourcing and knowledge sharing is affected by users’ perception of trust and reliability [23]. Platform support includes the aesthetics and easy use of the crowdsourcing platform website pages, and assistance from the platform website customer service. The nice appearance and easy use of the platform’s website pages help to attract users and increase their willingness to continue participating; the platform’s good services can help participants to solve collaboration problems, strengthen the depth of participation of the seekers and the solvers, and promote value co-creation. Yang et al. (2018) believe that the support of the platform has a significant impact on the behavior of citizens participating in value co-creation [29].

The key influencing factors of value co-creation from the perspective of the solvers include participation motivation and diversity. Participation motivation determines the individual’s willingness to participate, which directly affects the individual’s participation behavior. The motivation of the solvers’ participation will affect their efforts and attention to the task, thus affecting the quantity and quality of the submitted task solutions [14]. Diversity due to the number and heterogeneity of the solvers, because the diversity of the solvers can ensure the breadth of innovation source, the multi-dimensionality of the knowledge source, and the diversity of professional skills. These are critical to the efficiency and effectiveness of complex innovation tasks. Reypens (2016) and Jiang (2016) also fully verified that the more participants in value co-creation, the more operable resources they have, and the more conducive to value co-creation implementation [5, 15].

(2) The impact mechanism of the value co-creation process on the results in the crowdsourcing innovation

Ranjan et al. (2016) proceeds from the service-led logic and believed that co-production should include two key processes: resource integration and communication interaction [18]. Resource integration is the sharing and integration behavior of the participants, while interaction is the reflection behavior of the participants to strengthen the quality of the relationship. In the crowdsourcing innovation environment, the three parties are all resource contributors to the value co-creation system and promote the co-creation of value through interaction and resource sharing. This is very consistent with the research of Tajvidi et al. (2017), which found that the higher the quality of interaction between the participants, the deeper the value co-creation will be [22]. Therefore, it can be considered that under the crowdsourcing innovation model, resource integration and interaction constitute the key process of value co-creation.

In the crowdsourcing innovation environment, only by integrating diverse skills and knowledge resources, the traditional knowledge base of the seeker can be optimized to form a high-quality innovative solution. The effective integration of resources requires the interaction of multiple participants. Through continuous interaction, they can improve their cognition and prompt knowledge innovation [2]. The process of value co-creation promotes the integration and transformation of resources such as knowledge and skills to form creative or innovative task solutions and generate innovative value; the acquisition and use of knowledge resources promote the diffusion, integration, and innovation of knowledge, thereby generating knowledge value; the relationship interaction in value co-creation deepens the emotional connection between each other and generates relationship value. Therefore, an effective value co-creation process can produce diversified outcomes (innovation value, knowledge value, and relationship value).

5 Discussions

This paper starts from the management practice of crowdsourcing innovation, combining the theory of crowdsourcing innovation and value co-creation, it is proposed that the essence of crowdsourcing innovation is the co-creation of value by the participation of multiple agents. Based on four typical Chinese crowdsourcing platforms (zbj.com, Taskcn.com, epwk.com, and 680.com), the grounded theory approach is used to research the value co-creation implementation mechanism of multi-agent participation under the crowdsourcing innovation model, and finds that task attribute, incentive mechanism, trust mechanism, platform support, motivation for participation and diversity of solvers are the key influencing factors of value co-creation; resource integration and communication interaction constitute the value co-creation process of crowdsourcing innovation; knowledge value, innovation value, and relationship value are the outcome of value co-creation. And this paper further analyzes the realization mechanism of multi-agent participation in value co-creation in crowdsourcing innovation.

This research has certain guiding value for understanding the operation mechanism of the crowdsourcing innovative business model, expanding the related theories of crowdsourcing, and leading the healthy development of crowdsourcing platforms. But there are still the following deficiencies: This research focuses on crowdsourcing innovation based on the third-party platform, does not fully consider the crowdsourcing innovation model based on self-built communities; this paper mainly uses the grounded theory to explore the value co-creation mechanism under the crowdsourcing innovation, lacking empirical research on the theoretical conceptual model constructed. The above two aspects can be future research directions.

Footnotes

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the editor and the referees for carefully reading the paper. This research was supported by the Social Science Fund of MOE under Grant 19YJA630055, Jiangsu Social Science Fund under Grant 18HQ003, 20GLB016, and Jiangsu University Philosophy and Social Science Research Fund under Grant 019SJA1908.

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