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In this paper, we examine the relation between social media use and the absorptive capacity of organisations. Over the past 10 years, many organisations have systematically adopted social media. Trade press and consulting companies often claim that the systematic use of social media increases the performance of organisations. However, such claims are typically neither empirically grounded nor theoretically examined. In this paper, based on key informant interviews at 20 organisations, we examine these claims empirically and theoretically. Firstly, we examine the ways in which social media are used by organisations. We identify five different social media use types that support different organisational purposes (broadcast, dialogue, collaboration, knowledge management and sociability). Secondly, we analyse how these five social media use types relate to organisations' absorptive capacity. We find that particular social media use types (e.g., dialogue) support organisations' absorptive capacity and, ultimately, their performance although others (e.g., sociability) do not.

The use of IT-enabled crowdsourcing with employees in enterprises has increased substantially in recent years. This phenomenon, which we refer to as ‘internal crowdsourcing’, is distinct both from external crowdsourcing with end users and from hierarchy-based work with employees. A literature stream has emerged that corresponds with the increased relevance of internal crowdsourcing in practice. The purpose of this review paper of internal crowdsourcing is to provide conceptual development, synthesise the literature, and provide a research agenda. In the review reported in this paper, we systematically analysed and critically reviewed the literature in this domain published thus far (74 papers). We found useful findings and insights into a new and relevant IT-enabled phenomenon. At the same time, we also found conflicting definitions and conceptualisation, as well as research efforts that are not well integrated. The paper supports future research on internal crowdsourcing by providing improved conceptualisation, consolidating insights, and identifying important areas for future research.

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to better understand the relation between information technology (IT) affordances and donor motivations in charitable crowdfunding. Design/methodology/approach – This paper reports the findings from a comparative case study of two charitable crowdfunding campaigns. Findings – The affordances of crowdfunding platforms support types of donor motivation that are not supported effectively, or at all, in offline charity. Research limitations/implications – For future researchers, the paper provides a theoretical model of the relation between IT affordances and motivations in the context of charitable crowdfunding. Practical/implications – For practitioners in the charity space, the paper suggests why they may wish to consider the use of charitable crowdfunding and how they may go about its implementation. Originality/value – Based on field research at two charitable crowdfunding campaigns, the paper provides a new theoretical model.

Crowdsourcing marketplaces are increasingly becoming popular for the online transactions of services. On these marketplaces, profile information of providers, especially feedback left by previous customers, is the main information source for choice decisions of prospective customers. In the study reported in this paper, we examined the impacts of various feedback information components on provider profiles on the decisions of customers. We conducted two fractional factorial discrete choice experiments, one in a controlled laboratory setting and one online on a crowdsourcing marketplace. We found that the feedback information components "number of reviews" and "average weighted rating" have the largest impacts on the decisions of customers. We also found that "positive ratings" and "positive comments" have significant impacts on customers' decision-making, especially when they appear on the first feedback page. We also found in the lack of highly visible feedback components on the subsequent feedback pages, "negative comments" become a significant determinant of customers' decisions. We also showed the significant impact of information consistency on customers' decision-making, through the synergistic interaction effects between different feedback components. Finally, we found evidence that the cost of evaluating a feedback information component has a negative impact on the likelihood of customers evaluating that information component. The article concludes with implications of the findings of the study for theory and practice.

Crowdsourcing practices have generated much discussion on their ethics and fairness, yet these topics have received little scholarly investigation. Some have criticized crowdsourcing for worker exploitation and for undermining workplace regulations. Others have lauded crowdsourcing for enabling workers' autonomy and allowing disadvantaged people to access previously unreachable job markets. In this paper, we examine the ethics in crowdsourcing practices by focusing on three questions: (a) What ethical issues exist in crowdsourcing practices? (b) are ethical norms emerging or are issues emerging that require ethical norms? and, more generally, (c) how can the ethics of crowdsourcing practices be established? We answer these questions by engaging with Jürgen Habermas' discourse ethics theory to interpret findings from a longitudinal field study (from 2013 to 2016) involving key crowdsourcing participants (workers, platform organizers, and requesters) of three crowdsourcing communities. Grounded in this empirical study, we identify ethical concerns and discuss the ones for which ethical norms have emerged as well as others which remain unresolved and problematic in crowdsourcing practices. Furthermore, we provide normative considerations of how ethical concerns can be identified, discussed, and resolved based on the principles of discourse ethics.

Over the past two decades, openness (e.g. 'open' innovation, 'open' education and 'open' strategy) has been of increasing interest for researchers and of increasing relevance to practitioners. Openness is often deeply embedded in information technology (IT) and can be both a driver for and a result of innovative IT. To clarify the concept of "openness'', we provide an overview of the scope of cross-disciplinary research on openness. Based on this overview, we develop a framework of openness, which proposes a higher-order concept of "openness'' characterised by transparency, access, participation and democracy. The framework further distinguishes open resources, open processes and the effects of opening on particular domains. To provide the historical context and to appreciate the role of IT in openness, we discuss two historical examples of openness: the introduction of an open science model in academia (openness without IT) and the emergence of open source software development (openness with IT). We conclude by highlighting some concerns with and limitations of "openness''.

Information technology IT and entrepreneurship are more closely related than ever. The internet, in particular, inspires the current 'generation start-up'. While some early stage internet start-ups have quickly become major successes, others fail to secure required follow-up funding and collapse. In this paper, we build on and extend the emerging business model research stream with the aim of better understanding the differences between successful and unsuccessful early stage internet start-ups. In the qualitative first part of our mixed-method study, 17 expert informant interviews reveal that internet start-up business models are in permanent flux, continually changed and adapted by founders, who identify their professional social network i.e. their social capital as a critically important factor for developing the business model and ultimately making their start-ups successful. In the quantitative second part of the study, we test this claim based on a social network analysis of 70 internet start-ups and their 145 founders. We find strong support for the critical importance of the founders' social capital for early stage internet start-up success. The findings of this study advance our understanding of the relationship between founders' social capital, the development of business models and the success of early stage internet start-ups.

Display Omitted Reviews the literature in regard to ontological/theoretical lenses on open strategy.Re-analyses seven well-documented open strategy cases.Conceptualises open strategy as an IT-enabled, transparent and inclusive practice.Proposes a research agenda for open strategy informed by practice theory. An increasing number of organisations (e.g., Daimler, IBM and Red Hat) have adopted what has been called open strategy: involving large groups of people in strategy making via information technology (IT). Our review of the recently emerged research stream on open strategy reveals inconsistencies in the use of explicit definitions and implicit conceptualisations of open strategy. To support future discourse and research, we develop a theoretically coherent and comprehensive conceptualisation of open strategy as a practice in this paper. This conceptualisation is based on a structured review of existing publications and re-analysis of well-documented open strategy cases. We use the strategy-as-practice lens and the concept of Idealtypus as theoretical foundations. The paper proposes a research agenda for open strategy.