Crowdsourcing: a systematic review of the literature using text mining

Purpose This study is a systematic literature review of crowdsourcing that aims to present the research evidence so far regarding the extent to which it can contribute to organisational performance and produce innovations and provide insights on how organisations can operationalise it successfully. Design/methodology/approach The systematic literature review revolved around a text mining methodology analysing 106 papers. Findings The themes identified are performance, innovation, operational aspects and motivations. The review revealed a few potential directions for future research in each of the themes considered. Practical implications This study helps researchers to consider the recent themes on crowdsourcing and identify potential areas for research. At the same time, it provides practitioners with an understanding of the usefulness and process of crowdsourcing and insights on what the critical elements are in order to organise a successful crowdsourcing project. Originality/value This study employed quantitative content analysis in order to identify the main research themes with higher reliability and validity. It is also the first review on crowdsourcing that incorporates the relevant literature on crowdfunding as a value-creation tool.