The dark side of crowdsourcing of complex tasks: A systematic literature review

Abstract

Crowdsourcing (CS) has generated considerable excitement among practitioners in recent years, especially for the purpose of solving complex tasks. However, several failed CS initiatives have highlighted the difficulties of tapping into a crowd of contributors. Whereas most scholars consider CS activities to be sources of benefits for all actors involved, some scattered empirical results obtained in management literature challenge this assumption and demonstrate the existence of a dark side of CS. With a systematic literature review, the authors aim to identify various undesirable outcomes related to CS of complex tasks (CSCT). To do so, they reveal how all actors involved in CSCT activities—contributors, crowdsourcers, and CS platforms—can be both victims and perpetrators, possessing some characteristics that can produce detrimental effects but also activating mitigation mechanisms to counteract the dark side of CSCT activities. They also discuss the respective implications for academics and practitioners and suggest avenues for further research.