Transformations  in
Business & Economics

THE PROFESSIONALIZATION OF CROWDSOURCING: A PROCESS TRANSFORMING SHARED ECONOMY⁴
Szymon Mazurek

ABSTRACT. The purpose of this article is to investigate the professionalization of activity of those providing services or assets on crowdsourcing platforms. This paper uses a conceptual approach that is rooted in the literature and research on two-sided platforms, shared economy and specific projects such as Airbnb and Uber. On this basis, the professionalisation of crowdsourcing was defined as the process in which individuals who form the crowd providing assets and resources get ultimately transformed into business entities. Furthermore, this paper describes five stages of this process related to the groups of platform users with different degrees of involvement in the provision of services and resources. The approach adopted in this paper makes it possible to take a new look at the dynamic growth of digital platforms, and at the market and social controversies, they excite.

KEYWORDS:  crowdsourcing, shared economy, gig economy, multi-sided platforms.

⁴Acknowledgment:  : The project is financed by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education in Poland under the programme "Regional Initiative of Excellence" 2019-2022 project number 015/RID/2018/19 total funding amount 10 721 040,00 PLN.