Value co-creation mechanisms of multi-agent participation in crowdsourcing innovation: A grounded theory study

As a new business model, crowdsourcing innovation is widely used for enterprises to complete innovation tasks by the external crowds. The enterprises, the external crowds, and the crowdsourcing platform make an alliance and co-create value to achieve the multi-win goal. Based on the operation process analysis of the third-party platform crowdsourcing innovation model, this paper proposes that the essence of crowdsourcing innovation is the value co-creation of multi-agent participation. Based on grounded theory, this paper constructs the theoretical model of the realization mechanism of multi-agent participation value co-creation in crowdsourcing innovation from the three parties’ perspective. This research finds that value co-creation factors include six factors: task attributes, incentive mechanisms, trust mechanisms, the platform supports, participation motivation, and diversities. The process of value co-creation includes resource integration and interaction. The results of value co-creation include three elements: innovation value, knowledge value, and relationship value.