How to use crowdsourcing for innovation?: A comparative case study of internal and external idea sourcing in the chemical industry

Successful social innovation rely strongly on open innovation and the impact of crowds to find alternative solutions in a more transparent way. Social media as web-based communication platform leverages practices of crowdsourcing for idea generation to become a prominent tool for open innovation. The extant literature mainly focuses on external crowds, such as users and end customers. Although conducting internal crowdsourcing with employees has entered the research agenda, detailed examination on how and when to use external or internal crowds for open innovation is still missing. Thus, the research aim of the present study is to identify success factors and challenges for internal and external crowdsourcing by determining their differences. An exploratory multi-case study research design is used to investigate crowdsourcing activities within a specialty chemicals company. We compare a case of external crowdsourcing, where academic researchers were invited to submit solutions to a specialized problem with a case of internal crowdsourcing, whereby employees generate ideas for new products in an idea competition. Based on three key components - task, crowd and outcome an their interrelationships in three dimensions - social, technical and innovation dimension, we thus present a framework on how to use internal and external crowds best to source new ideas and solution pathways.