Abstract

Crowdsourcing is an emerging paradigm in engineering
design for open innovation. It offers various benefits to crucial
aspects of design innovation, such as generating diverse design ideas
and engaging consumers. However, crowdsourcing initiatives for
engineering design are prone to failures if the complex nature of
engineering design processes is not accounted for. For example, the
initiative can fail if design solutions do not achieve the required
quality, which, in turn, is influenced by factors such as domain
knowledge, problem complexity, and incentive structures. Thus,
there lies a need to systematically design crowdsourcing initiatives.
In this article, the authors build on an existing framework for
designing crowdsourcing initiatives in an engineering design context.
They do so, by conducting an interview study with industry
professionals with product design experience. The authors investigate
the challenges experienced by these professionals for adopting
crowdsourcing initiatives for engineering design. Through the
study, research opportunities are identified that expand and aid the
adoption of the framework. The authors discuss relevant literature
for the identified research directions and frame the research gaps
that need to be pursued. The authors conclude by encouraging academic
communities to pursue collaborative efforts toward enabling
systematic design of crowdsourcing initiatives for engineering
design.