A Study of Crowdsourcing in Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Education

Abstract

Crowdsourcing is an approach to harness knowledge and support from crowds using online platforms. Its use occurs within businesses and academia. Small businesses especially derive value from crowdsourcing because entrepreneurs have startup costs as well as time challenges to bring services/products to market. Entrepreneurs may also seek innovation and authenticity to differentiate from competitors. Since crowdsourcing offers these benefits, the researchers queried faculty from public and private universities who taught undergraduate classes in entrepreneurship to explore teaching methods utilized as well as specific aspects of crowdsourcing that were included. Researchers analyzed the resulting crowdsourcing gaps as well as crowdsourcing teaching challenges. Based upon their findings, new crowdsourcing learning activities and strategies were developed such that undergraduate entrepreneurship students may further benefit from crowdsourcing.