Challenges and Research Directions in Crowdsourcing for Engineering Design: An Interview Study With Industry Professionals

Abstract

Crowdsourcing is an emerging paradigm in engineering design for open innovation. It offers various benefits to crucial aspects of design innovation, such as generating diverse design ideas and engaging consumers. However, crowdsourcing initiatives for engineering design are prone to failures if the complex nature of engineering design processes is not accounted for. For example, the initiative can fail if design solutions do not achieve the required quality, which, in turn, is influenced by factors such as domain knowledge, problem complexity, and incentive structures. Thus, there lies a need to systematically design crowdsourcing initiatives. In this article, the authors build on an existing framework for designing crowdsourcing initiatives in an engineering design context. They do so, by conducting an interview study with industry professionals with product design experience. The authors investigate the challenges experienced by these professionals for adopting crowdsourcing initiatives for engineering design. Through the study, research opportunities are identified that expand and aid the adoption of the framework. The authors discuss relevant literature for the identified research directions and frame the research gaps that need to be pursued. The authors conclude by encouraging academic communities to pursue collaborative efforts toward enabling systematic design of crowdsourcing initiatives for engineering design.