Crowdsourcing and COVID‐19: How Public Administrations Mobilize Crowds to Find Solutions to Problems Posed by the Pandemic

• Published date: 01 July 2022
• Author: Ana Colovic,Annalisa Caloffi,Federica Rossi
• Date: 01 July 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13489

756 Public Administration Review • July | A ugus t 202 2

Crowdsourcing and COVID-19: How Public

Administrations Mobilize Crowds to Find Solutions

toProblems Posed by the Pandemic

Abstract: We discuss how public administrations have used crowdsourcing to find solutions to specific problems posed

by the COVID-19 pandemic, and to what extent crowdsourcing has been instrumental in promoting open innovation

and service co-creation. We propose a conceptual typology of crowdsourcing challenges based on the degree of their

openness and collaboration with the crowd that they establish. Using empirical evidence collected in 2020 and 2021,

we examine the extent to which these types have been used in practice. We discuss each type of crowdsourcing challenge

identified and draw implications for public policy.

Evidence for Practice

• Public administrations have used crowdsourcing during the COVID-19 pandemic to respond to the new

and urgent needs of the population.

• We propose a conceptual distinction between four different types of crowdsourcing challenges, depending on

the degree of co-creation between seekers and solvers and the degree of openness of the solution.

• Public administrations have used all four types of crowdsourcing; “open co-creation” challenges constitute a

small share of all public crowdsourcing challenges.

• There is scope for more extensive use of “open co-creation” challenges in the context of policies responding

to large-scale complex problems such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

The scale and urgency of the COVID-19

pandemic have led governments to implement

rapid and complex interventions in a variety

of social and economic domains (Huang2020). A

global wicked issue (Moon2020), the pandemic is

characterized by complexity and uncertainty (Steen

and Brandsen2020), affecting every aspect of life,

disrupting social, organizational, and political

processes (Dahlke et al.2021; Shi et al.2020) and

highlighting the strong interdependency between

social and political systems (Grizzle, Goodin,

and Robinson2020; Schomaker, Hack, and

Mandry2021). The rapid spread of the pandemic

has forced governments to implement multiple, and

sometimes unprecedented, measures to prevent the

collapse of healthcare systems and national economies

worldwide (Bel, Gasulla, and Mazaira-Font2021;

Capano and Lippi2021; Mei2020). These include

making substantial investments in areas such as

research and development (R&D) for vaccines

and treatments, mechanisms to track the spread of

infection, and the production of protection and risk

reduction devices.

Crowdsourcing has played a role in this particular

context. Public administrations’ increasing adoption

of new digital technologies—including, in particular,

platform government practices, as well as open data

and open-source practices—has facilitated the use of

crowdsourcing to respond quickly and creatively to

new and urgent needs of citizens (Bryson et al.2013;

Kim, Andersen, and Lee2021; O’Reilly2011).

For example, Lim (2020, cited in Kim, Andersen,

and Lee2021) recounts how the South Korean

government, faced with a shortage of respiratory masks,

published the Application Programming Interfaces

that managed the pharmacy administration system,

allowing private developers to design apps to track the

availability of masks in pharmacies in real-time.

Crowdsourcing is the practice of obtaining solutions

(services, ideas, or other contributions) from a

crowd (an undefined, large group of people) by

means of an internet-disseminated open call, often

via crowdsourcing platforms (Howe2006). The

seeker and the solvers of the crowdsourced solution

do not have a hierarchical relationship, and their

collaboration takes place on equal terms (Schenk and

Guittard2011).

Crowdsourcing has become a tool of public

administrations, used to serve various purposes

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 82, Iss. 4, pp. 756–763. © 2022 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.13489.

Federica Rossi is a Reader in Innovation

Management and Policy at Birkbeck,

University of London, London, UK. Her

research interests include the economics

and management of intellectual property

rights, business innovation activities and

business networks, the economics and

governance of higher education, and

science and technology policy. She has

collaborated with the OECD, the U.K.

Strategic Advisory Board for Intellectual

Property, the EC/Eurostat, and regional

and local development agencies. She

has also worked on several national

and international research projects. She

has authored numerous articles in peer-

reviewed journals and books.

Email: f.rossi@bbk.ac.uk

Annalisa Caloffi is an associate professor

at the Department of Economics and

Business, University of Firenze, Firenze, Italy.

Her research interests include industrial

and innovation policies, R&D consortia, and

innovation networks and clusters. She has

contributed to a number of international

research projects on innovation policies,

including EU Research Framework projects,

and to several projects funded by national

and regional agencies. She has published

in peer-reviewed journals, books, and other

national and international outlets.

Email: annalisa.caloffi@unifi.it

Ana Colovic is a professor of Strategy

and Entrepreneurship at NEOMA Business

School, Mont-Saint-Aignan, France. Her

research interests include business models,

industrial clusters, innovation ecosystems,

and innovation policy. She has held several

visiting research positions in the United

Kingdom, United States, and Japan. She

conducted research at the National Institute

for Science and Technology Policy—NISTEP

(Tokyo, Japan), and the National Association

for Technological Research (Paris, France).

She is a fellow of the Japan Society for the

Promotion of Science. She has published

articles in peer-reviewed journals and books.

Email: ana.colovic@neoma-bs.fr

Viewpoint Article

NEOMA Business School University of Florence

Birkbeck, University of London,

Clore Management Centre

Ana Colovic Annalisa Caloffi

Federica Rossi