The past, present, and future of crowdsourcing and innovation: A bibliometric analysis and future research agenda

Abstract

This research article addresses the current status and emerging trends in the literature at the intersection of crowdsourcing and innovation. While separate reviews exist for crowdsourcing and innovation individually, a comprehensive literature review specific to their intersection is lacking. Therefore, this study conducts a bibliometric meta-analysis of the extensive body of literature in the field of innovation and crowdsourcing, aiming to fill this research gap. The analysis encompasses all articles in Elsevier's Scopus database that incorporate relevant terms in their titles, abstracts, or keywords, resulting in a sample of 180 articles. VosViewer and Bibliometrix package in R are employed for the analysis. The analysis reveals three key research clusters, including the role of crowdsourcing in fostering organizational innovation, crowdsourcing-based social capital formation and its impact on organizational value creation, and the role of crowdsourcing platforms in facilitating engagement between the crowd and the organization. Adopting a holistic perspective, this research contributes new insights into the interconnections between crowdsourcing and innovation research fields. Additionally, the analysis provides clarity on research content, evolutionary context, and reveals emerging research trends in this domain.