Joining the crowd: The career anchors of information technology workers participating in crowdsourcing

Abstract

As technology platforms and online communities evolve, the nature of the relationship between workers and firms is changing. Crowdsourcing is an emerging phenomenon that exemplifies the changing relationship between workers and firms. Although significant research has been conducted on worker motivation within the traditional firm-worker relationship, relatively little work has examined motivation in crowdsourcing engagements. This study utilizes the revealed causal mapping methodology to conduct an exploratory analysis of the motivations and career outcomes of technology workers based in the United States who participate in compensation-based technology crowdsourcing platforms such as oDesk or Rent-a-coder. The findings reveal ways in which the career anchors of technology workers participating in crowdsourcing are evolving in the face of the emerging dynamics in the information technology (IT) employment marketplace.