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The last decade has witnessed the proliferation of crowdsourcing in various domains such that numerous companies have drawn on this concept for performing different value creation activities. Irrespective of different successful examples, research and practice show that many crowdsourcing projects are currently realized by means of a trial-and-error approach due to the lack of approaches for effectively governing crowdsourcing projects. Following an exploratory qualitative approach, the thesis draws on a thematic analysis as well as on multiple case studies to analyze the complex governance structures and projects processes of crowdsourcing systems as representative socio-technical work systems.

This dissertation elaborates insights on the basic dimensions and factors influencing the design and implementation of crowdsourcing projects. Furthermore, it provides pioneering work on governance mechanisms and their configurations, and goes a step further by scrutinizing the most effective mechanisms for different types of crowdsourcing systems. As such, the dissertation builds a basis for effectively governing crowdsourcing projects in crowdsourcing systems as a paradigmatic form of distributed, IT-supported work systems.

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