Antecedents of the intention to adopt crowdsourcing for innovation in government: Findings from Belgium and the Netherlands

Abstract

Crowdsourcing is a form of IT-enabled open innovation that has received increased attention in recent years. However, the use of crowdsourcing in public innovation is still in its early stages. To understand the adoption of crowdsourcing in government, this article investigates the antecedents of the intention to adopt crowdsourcing in government organizations. The adoption intention is conceptualized as a rationalistic, goal-directed decision that is driven by multiple strategic intents but tempered by transaction costs. Three strategic intents (accessing complementary knowledge, enhancing organizational legitimacy, and reducing innovation costs) and two transaction costs (codification costs, and broadcasting costs) are hypothesized as antecedents to the adoption intention. Data (n = 205) from municipalities in Belgium and the Netherlands shows that the adoption intention can be explained by the influence of the political executive, the pursuit of organizational legitimacy, and transaction costs associated with broadcasting. Accessing complementary knowledge, reducing innovation costs, and codification costs are not significant predictors. The findings suggest that crowdsourcing is viewed as a tool for political alignment and legitimation.