Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • Article
  • Strategic Organization

Firms, Crowds, and Innovation

By: Teppo Felin, Karim R. Lakhani and Michael L. Tushman
  • Format:Print
ShareBar

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to suggest a (preliminary) taxonomy and research agenda for the topic of “firms, crowds, and innovation” and to provide an introduction to the associated special issue. We specifically discuss how various crowd-related phenomena and practices—for example, crowdsourcing, crowdfunding, user innovation, and peer production—relate to theories of the firm, with particular attention on “sociality” in firms and markets. We first briefly review extant theories of the firm and then discuss three theoretical aspects of sociality related to crowds in the context of strategy, organizations, and innovation: (1) the functions of sociality (sociality as extension of rationality, sociality as sensing and signaling, sociality as matching and identity); (2) the forms of sociality (independent/aggregate and interacting/emergent forms of sociality); and (3) the failures of sociality (misattribution and misapplication). We conclude with an outline of future research directions and introduce the special issue papers and essays.

Keywords

Crowdsourcing; Innovation; Open Innovation; Organization Theory; Strategy; Collaborative Innovation And Invention; Organizations; Theory; Strategy

Citation

Felin, Teppo, Karim R. Lakhani, and Michael L. Tushman. "Firms, Crowds, and Innovation." Special Issue on Organizing Crowds and Innovation. Strategic Organization 15, no. 2 (May 2017): 119–140. (doi: 10.1177/1476127017706610.)
  • Read Now

About The Authors

Karim R. Lakhani

Technology and Operations Management
→More Publications

Michael L. Tushman

Organizational Behavior
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • February 2021
    • Faculty Research

    Threadless: The Renewal of an Online Community

    By: Shane Greenstein, Karim Lakhani and Christian Godwin
    • 2021
    • Faculty Research

    Consuming Contests: Outcome Uncertainty and Spectator Demand for Contest-based Entertainment

    By: Patrick J. Ferguson and Karim R. Lakhani
    • 2020
    • Faculty Research

    Learning with People Like Me: The Role of Age-Similar Peers on Online Business Course Engagement

    By: Laura R. Huber, Jacqueline N. Lane and Karim R. Lakhani
More from the Authors
  • Threadless: The Renewal of an Online Community By: Shane Greenstein, Karim Lakhani and Christian Godwin
  • Consuming Contests: Outcome Uncertainty and Spectator Demand for Contest-based Entertainment By: Patrick J. Ferguson and Karim R. Lakhani
  • Learning with People Like Me: The Role of Age-Similar Peers on Online Business Course Engagement By: Laura R. Huber, Jacqueline N. Lane and Karim R. Lakhani
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College