Research On The Vendor-Client Trust Mechanisms In Crowdsourcing Marketplace

With the rapid development of telecommunication infrastructure and information technology,web-based crowdsourcing is expanding by leaps and bounds.Because of the advantage of Internet such as wide coverage,no district restriction and convient communication,the traditional outsourcing can be expanded to the whole society through Internet.What's equally important is that open innovation based crowdsourcing has been merging into the global economy with an open and dynamic innovation mode and changing the innovation status around the globe.Platforms such as zhubajie.com and taskcn.cm in China have attracted millions of users.However,through a thorough comparison analysis of the service task type between Chinese and Western crowdsourcing marketplaces have offered,we found the R&D is the missing link in the current situation.Under these circumstances,one of the biggest concerns yet facing the development of internet economy is trust problems.Crowdsourcing marketplaces,as an intermediary for transacting service products,are no exception.However,there are few studies in this regard.Based on the afore-mendtioned background analysis,at the mean time,borrowing previous literature basis,this dissertation aims to understand the following research questions(RQ):(1)How does the trust pattern in crowdsourcng marketplace differ from the traditional outsourcing context and its manifestation?(2)What factors in crowdsourcing marketplace affect vendor selection? What's the role trust plays? How will trust affect the commitment of client to vendors in the relationship?(3)From the perspective of trust theory,the uptake and design of Chinese R&D crowdsourcing marketplace entails what kind of mechanism for buiding trust?This dissertation is looking at the crowdsourcing marketplace from trust theory basis,and employs theoretical,empirical and exploratory case study as the main research methods to conduct a series of research.The main contribution of the dissertation can be summarizd as follows,Firstly,Based on the transaction stages in crowdsourcing marketplaces,this paper develops a process model of the client-vendor transaction and further makes a distinction of the two different trust types:(1)swift trust and(2)knowledge-based trust.Secondly,from the perspective of swift trust and vendor-task fit,this dissertation develops the vendor selection factor model in the crowdsourcing marketplace and tested it with a field study.We found that Swift trust plays a mediation role in the effect between perceived vendor reputation and perceived vendor competence on vendor preference.Apart from the two dimensions of reputation in e-commerce setting and competence in personnel assessment setting,this dissertation proposes the concept of vendor-task fit in the crowdsourcing marketplace context and adopted a subjective fit perspective to measure it.Thirdly,from the perspective of formal control and relational governance,this dissertation develops the trust-commitment model from the client side.We include institutional mechanism in the concept of formal control.In addition,we developed a multiple cause and multiple indicator model for the construct of relational governance combining reflective and formative measures.Fourthly,based on the previous trust theories,this dissertation uses an exploratory case study(wanhui.net)approach to examine the uptake of R&D crowdsourcing marketplace.Through the anayisis of wanhui.net and the comparison of relevant platforms,we suggest that,talent pool construction,mutal recommendation based on vendor-task fit,reputation,and partial escrow can help build swift trust;while status report,workroom,and arbitration mechanism can help build knowledge-based trust.To sum up,this dissertation adopts a trust theory basis to look into the phenomena of crowdsourcing marketplace.We adopted the research methods of theortical analysis,empricial analysis,and case studies to conduct a series of research on vendor selection and commitment issues.The results will be able to make a number of theoretical and practical contributions,especially the Chinese context provides valuable and feasible practical implication for Chinese firms.In the end,this dissertation points out the weakness of the research and points out directions for future research.