The adoption of crowdsourcing platforms in South Africa

Abstract

Crowdsourcing has increasingly become a popular phenomenon where organisations solicit the help of the public to accomplish activities that are usually performed by employees. These activities can range from scientific problems to menial tasks that are sometimes too mundane for employees. A lot of organisations in different countries have adopted and embraced this phenomenon with gusto. South Africa being the African continent’s most developed economy is also embracing crowdsourcing. However, the adoption of crowdsourcing initiatives has been slow, especially amongst public organisations, due to various reasons, such as lack of awareness. This research paper reports on the investigation conducted pertaining to the adoption of crowdsourcing platforms in South Africa. The primary research methods used for the study included a systematic literature review and document analysis. The results from the study suggest that the most prominent crowdsourcing platforms in South Africa deal with funding. However, there is still a lack of information pertaining to the status and number of users benefiting from the adopted and/or deployed platforms.