Abstract
This paper will present a proposal for research in the area of crowdsourcing. The proposal will highlight the need for research in the area of crowdsourcing as a mechanism to enhance and expand the technology workforce. It does so by examining the technology crowdsourcing phenomenon from three perspectives: the worker (or labor supply), the buyer of technology services (or labor demand) and the marketplaces that facilitates the buyer-seller transaction. It will explore how workforce development and enterprise readiness theories can be applied in explaining how crowdsourcing can be applied to technology tasks. This dissertation will be structured in a three study format. Study one will explore the technology crowdsourcing phenomenon from a "crowdworker" perspective. This study will examine technology crowdwork from a career anchors perspective, and will highlight the potential role of crowdsourcing in expanding the technology workforce to additional sources of worker capacity. This study will establish the theories that describe the motivations and outcomes achieved by workers in crowdsourcing project engagements, and utilize Schein's Career Anchors (Schein 1990) to examine the motivations of workers technology enabled collaborative work environments. Study two will focus on the perceptions and readiness for crowdsourcing labor on the part of buyers of IT services. The research will collect survey data regarding enterprise readiness, and will examine the current state of enterprise readiness to adopt new development techniques. Study three will utilize a design science perspective to examine the ability of crowdsourcing marketplace platforms to meet the needs of IT service buyers and IT service workers as identified in Study's one and two.