| Web, in general, and electronic markets, in particular, are still evolving, periodically giving birth to new amazing market mechanisms like Amazon's product review system and Google's sponsored search engine. An important distinguishing feature of many new market mechanisms, known by the common name of "crowdsourcing", is that they blur boundaries between consumption and production creating a new proactive consumer type. Whether these individuals are writing a blog or a product review, answering questions or solving research problems, there is a significant economic value created by their actions; companies, that understand and successfully leverage this economic value, thrive, while others vanish.;This thesis consists of three different research papers: a theoretical study of an optimal design of a single shot crowdsourcing contest with incomplete information, an empirical and a theoretical study of multiple simultaneous crowdsourcing contests with complete information and an empirical study of the value of "the wisdom of crowds". All papers are unified by the common goal of understanding and shaping behavior of individuals in crowdsourcing environments. Special attention is given to the roles of diversity of skills/knowledge and information asymmetries in crowdsourcing settings.;Yet crowdsourcing is notorious for being very hard to get right. Interactions between agents in the crowdsourcing market are not governed by long-term contracts or employment agreements; individuals are free to choose any projects they like, contribute as much effort as they want and take months long breaks, thus creating a managerial nightmare. |
