Crowdsourcing: A new way of employing non-employees?

Interest in and enthusiasm for crowdsourcing is growing tremendously. But should organizations contemplating the use of crowdsourcing view it as simply another means of outsourcing to non-employees, or as something unique that has special requirements for success? This article addresses that issue. After reviewing the various ways organizations employ non-employees to overcome human resource limitations, we suggest areas in which they are similar and areas in which they are different. We then focus on crowdsourcing as a novel source of external labor. Presenting key questions that every organization considering the use of crowdsourcing must address, we offer specific recommendations for those organizations that choose to employ a crowd to meet their needs. These recommendations are based on an extensive review of both the research literature and the practitioner literature, and include additional insights gleaned from transcripts of sales calls with prospective customers conducted by a large crowdsourcing intermediary.