Leveraging Crowdsourcing: The Moderating Role of External Search Breadth

Since the introduction of the open innovation concept, scholars have been studying the importance of boundary-spanning search for innovation performance. In our study we specifically address the effect of crowdsourcing – a unique approach to finding external knowledge – on innovation performance. We moreover investigate the moderating effect of external search breadth on this relationship. Based on a large-scale survey of 4,500 German companies, the results confirm our hypothesis that crowdsourcing is significantly and positively associated with innovation performance. However, as additionally hypothesized, its effect is strongly moderated by the external search breadth of the focal firm. That is, firms with either low or high levels of external search breadth benefit most from crowdsourcing. At the same time, firms with optimal levels of search breadth, do not exhibit additional benefits from crowdsourcing or even a decrease in innovation performance.